Brother Trouble
by VesperChan
Summary: Sakura's father marries a woman with eleven sons and Sakura has to learn to live with so many males after a lifetime alone. AU Sakura/multi, but mostly Sakura/Uchiha. Crack, fluff, and humor.
1. Chapter 1

Brother Trouble

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Sakura's father marries a woman with eleven sons and Sakura has to learn to live with so many males after a lifetime alone. AU Sakura/multi, but mostly Sakura/Uchiha. Crack, fluff, and humor.

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Ino nearly choked on her drink. "How many?" she asked in a screech, not believing what she was hearing.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "She adopted a few boys, so they aren't all hers."

Ino wiped the underside of her lips with her thumb, careful not to ruin her lipstick in public. "Still, that's a lot of testosterone under one roof. No wonder their mother travels so often."

Sakura glanced sideways out across the dinner from her seat in the window seat booth. It was fairly empty, meaning there was little risk of being overheard by anyone important, but the college aged waitress that came by looked like the eavesdropping kind that lived off of other people's secrets, so Sakura refrained from dropping names all the same.

"So many of them are older than I am though, so its not like its a house filled with boys running around leaving mud-prints on the furniture and coloring the walls. Most of them could live on their own if they wanted to."

"So why don't they?" Ino asked excitedly. Her blue eyes were wide and shining with amusement. It was the sort of look that demanded details be told and re told a number of times because they were just so fun to hear again and again.

Sakura shrugged. "It's a nice place. It's not an apartment at least, like what dad and I call home. I guess the building used to be a luxury apartment complex, but she renovated it so all her kids could live at home with her. I only saw photos, but it reeked of money."

Ino whistled low. "Wow, your dad really caught the jackpot. And here I though all those years of being a bachelor dulled his charms. Nah, Mr. Haruno still got game," she laughed.

Sakura couldn't help it, she had to laugh too. It was too funny to think of her dad wooing a woman after all those years alone. He was terrible and awkward and far too honest about things to be smooth. He wasn't a manly man either, having only Sakura to live with.

The waitress came back with Sakura's classic burger and fries as well as Ino's salad. Ino claimed she was trying to be healthier, but Sakura caught her friend sneaking fries out of the red, plastic basket.

"So, what are you going to do now? You moving in with your dad or what?" Ino asked around a mouthful of lettuce.

"That's what he wants me to do, but I told him no. He travels too much and he'll be traveling with _her_ all over the place, leaving me with all those new…brothers. I don't care if enough of them are old enough to be considered adults. Ah, he even wanted me to change my last name when Mikoto offered to adopt me into _her_ family. I already have a family!"

Ino frowned. "Wait, does that mean your dad is taking her last name?" When Sakura nodded Ino's brow rose. "That is odd. It is not like…uh, usually the other way around?"

"…She has a popular last name that her relatives don't want to see go away." Sakura squirmed. "Her extended family is quite traditional."

"Sounds fun."

Sakura sighed. "My point exactly. I don't want anything to do with this new family. They're the type where, if you're in for a penny you're in for a pound. It would be better if I just stayed in the apartment on my own, even after the wedding. And gosh Ino, could you imagine it, me living in a house with so many other…males."

Ino leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes, humming happily under her breath. "I don't know about you, but I'm imagining it for me. It would be like having a harem."

Sakura huffed, taking a larger bite of her burger, dripping ketchup down the side of her mouth and onto her plate. Not bothering with a napkin, she wiped it off with her thumb, glancing sideways to make sure no one noticed her lack of manners. Yes, living in such a formal household would not be good for someone like her. She was messy, opinionated, a feminist, and decidedly single for the rest of her college years.

"Shut up, this isn't about you anymore, tell me about these boys." Ino pushed what was left of her salad aside and leaned forward on her elbows. "Don't skimp on the details either."

"I don't know that much," Sakura sighed, picking at her fries. "I didn't _want_ to know as much as I do, I only know that most of them are older than me and….and stuff."

"_Stuff_?"

"Yeah, _stuff_."

"Tell me of this _stuff_."

Sakura sighed, closing her eyes and trying to care enough to remember with her near perfect memory. "There are twins, Madara and Izuna. I think they are the oldest but I'm not sure. They aren't her sons, but they are her older brother's kids from an affair or something so she had to adopt them for appearances. Then there is Shisui, who is graduated from college and working in the police force. Next is…Pein, he's adopted as well, but from a family oversees or something. I saw a photo and he sticks out for so many reasons. All the rest of them are dark hair, dark eyes, and he's like…auburn hair and grey eyes and piercings all over his face. I guess he might be the problem child in the family, whatever."

"Is he cute?" Ino was bouncing in her seat.

"I don't know how to answer that, I guess. He's not my cup of tea, but you know that so…" Sakura trailed off, trying to avoid Ino's eyes in fear of her friend finding a reason to disbelieve her. Pein was good looking if Sakura was being honest, but denial was a safety measure she couldn't afford to throw out. Once she started admitting they were good looking she might start developing…feelings. And feelings would screw her over in the end. She had learned her lesson well enough since high school. Feelings were to be respected with all the reverence of a force of nature; once you had feelings, there is little a person can do to get rid of them.

"You're going to be an old maid one day and then you'll look back on your life and say, 'man I really wasted my youth. I should have listened to Ino and dated more,' or something like that."

Sakura leveled a disbelieving look at her friend till Ino cracked a grin and snorted her amusement.

"Shut up, Ino pic. Do you want me to finish with the descriptions or what? I'm mad at you now, I can't leave something half finished so now I need to go through and talk about all this guys."

Ino held back her cackles. "Fine, fine, keep going, we were at metal face."

"His name is Pein. After Pein comes…Itachi I think, he's her natural son. Then there is Sasori, who was also adopted, he has red hair and stands out a little less than Pein. After those two there is an age gap, or was that were Obito went?No, Sasuke is older than Obito. Obito looks really young, but he's older than what he looks. After him there is Sai. Like Obito, Sasuke is her natural son and Sai was her husband's bastard, but she took him in all the same after she learned about the boy, so those two boys are close in age. And then finally there is Tobi. Tobi had an accident that scarred half of his face so he's shy and wasn't in the photo, so I don't know what he really looks like. Finally, those are the boys."

I thought you said their were eleven, that's only ten."

"Ah, yeah, there is an even older brother that's not even their brother, but another bastard that is even older than Madara. He lives with them part time and isn't really considered one of the brothers. Never the less, he lives under their roof on the weekends. His name is Kakashi."

Ino made an O with her lips. "They do sound traditional with all the… illegitimate children being taken in for appearances sake. You don't hear language like that anymore."

"Yeah, but regardless, I don't want to move in with them, so I told my dad this and he's all 'well you have no choice since I've canceled our rent on the apartment. Movers will be there on the 8th to pick up your stuff." Sakura fumed. "He didn't even give me a choice. Most girls my age are living on their own. I'm too old to-"

"No they're not." Ino cut in with a dry expression. "Sakura, you're only ninteen and most girls at eighteen aren't a year into college for some abstract yet detailed literature degree. You've been hanging out with old people too much."

"You're missing the point here Ino. I'm _not_ doing what my dad wants me to. I'm not moving in with those guys. I don't care if I get a room the size of our apartment. I don't want to, I don't like the idea of it and if I don't like it a I shouldn't be strong armed into it."

"Well, you could bum a few nights at my place, but you can't stay forever. Eventually you'll have to move in, you know that right?"

Sakura sat back in the booth and mentally ran through her list of friends who had places she could crash at. A few of them might be willing, like Hinata, but crashing at Hinata's place meant running into Neji who was a patriarchal ass with god like hair and flawless skin. Sakura wanted to avoid that guy as much as possible, even if he was trying ti improve his social skills and treat his female cousin better after years of patronizing her. Eh, he was a good kid when it came down to it, but he was still male. Males were a no go.

Sakura also had friends like Karin who were okay to hang with every now and then, but in no way was ideal for spending extended periods of time together. The two would kill each other before a day was done. It looked more and more like Ino was the only safe place to be.

Seeing her friend fume in thought, Ino sighed. "You can't run away from this problem, Sakura, and it's not even as bad as you make it seem. How much time do you spend at home anyway? If its really that uncomfortable just try and stay out as much as possible. Eventually you'll get to the point where you are comfortable around your new family members but until then, stay busy."

"That shouldn't be too hard, but I like studying at home where its quiet. I hate having to use the library where there are other people," Sakura confessed.

Ino rolled her eyes. "Stop whining about everything so much. Big deal, get over it, the world wasn't meant to be perfect. Oh, and you're treating by the way. I covered last time."

"It was free last time!"

"It was still my treat," Ino hummed looking out the window with a smug smile.

Not wanting to pay, Sakura pulled out her phone and started searching through her emails for an attachment. "If I show you a photo of the family, will you treat today, like you should have last time?"

Ino perked up, looking interested. "You should have showed me a photo before when you were counting off all the names!"

"Yeah, but if I did that I wouldn't have the leverage I have now. So how about it?" Sakura waved her phone and grinned, knowing her friend wouldn't be able to resist.

To her credit Ino put up a good front, and lasted a whole of ten seconds before breaking down and demanding to see the snapshot taken last year at their summer retreat home in the mountains. A few of them looked like the were ready for a swim in the lake with thin or half open cotton shirts, adding to Sakura's hesitation in regards to meeting them. They oozed confidence in their natural bodies and she couldn't blame them for it. Fitness was obviously a standard.

Handing the phone over, Sakura watched as her friends eyes went from wide with excitement to wide with surprise and then half lidded for star struck.

"Oh my," Ino breathed. She tapped at the photo and pulled it up and down to see each person in the photo better. Absently a stray tear of droll began to gather at the corner of her mouth. Sakura didn't say anything, but started to feel her discomfort mount.

"So….you're treating."

Ino looked up with a start. "You invite me over sometime and it'll be my treat for a whole month."

* * *

In the Uchiha household there was a calendar handing on the door to the pantry with March 8th circled in bright red. A few of the boys didn't pay it any mind, and another few pretended they didn't mind, but most of them noticed the date growing closer and closer with eager anticipation.

"Where the days always this long?" Shisui asked with a whine.

Izuna looked up from his work, pulling his glasses down the bridge of his nose so that he wasn't staring through the glass. "Oh please, don't start with that. You're sounding like Madara now. I swear if he's whined about it once, he's whined about it a hundred different times. That man should have never showed us his pictures."

"The pictures weren't too dangerous, it was those stupid videos on his iphone that were dangerously provoking."

Izuna raised a single brow. "You do know you sound terribly creepy right now, right?"

"There is nothing wrong with being naturally curious," Shisui huffed, crossing his arms over his chest and shifting the weight of his body from one leg to the other. "And, its not like I'm going as far as Kakashi and doing a background check or anything."

"Kakashi is a lawyer and he does background checks on everyone."

"Yeah, but then he usually talks about what he finds out. Whenever I ask him about her he just smiles suspiciously and walks off, refusing to say anything! What is that supposed to mean? He's not acting normal!"

Izuna sighed, shaking his head. "He knows it annoys you and that is why he does it."

"Does what?" Both males looked up to see Pein walk into the kitchen with his hands in his pockets. He was in jeans and a long sleeve shirt.

"You're not working today?" Izuna asked, used to seeing his brother in something a bit more professional.

Pein ignored the pointed stare and walked to the pantry to get a bagel. "I went in for a few hours this morning, I took the rest of the day off when I finished early. You can do that when you run the place." Pein paused, closing the door so that he was face to face with the calendar. "Ah, it is almost that time, isn't it?"

"It might as well be next year, based off of how slow the days are going by," Shisui groaned, flopping down over the kitchen table and messing up Izuna's accounting records. The elder brother huffed in annoyance and pulled his things closer, away from the wild brother.

"I heard she wasn't coming until later though, that date should be moved."

Both brother looked up suddenly, surprised by Pein's words. "What do you mean?" Izuna asked, less frightened by the idea then his younger sibling.

"Ah," Pein nodded, tapping his pierced chin with his snack. "Her father said she was busy with finals, so she is staying with her friend until things calm down for her."

"When is that?!" Shisui was hopping up and down from one foot to the other, upset and timid at the same time.

Pein shrugged. "I don't know. Whenever finals are over, I would suspect. Ask Itachi, he's taking classes now, isn't he?"

"Finals shouldn't be too long after the original date, though." Izuna closed his tired eyes and tried to think back to when he was in school, studying for accounting finals and ridicules tests he couldn't remember learning anything from. It was towards the middle of May when things ended for him, making what Pein claimed sound more plausible.

"Why did no one tell me about this?" Shisui cried.

Pein arched a single brow in concern and apprehension. "I should think the answer obvious. You're reacting like a lunatic. Go in to work and quit bringing it home.

"I guess that means I should be the one to tell Madara about this, he'll beat anyone else," Izuna sighed.

Pein frowned. "That brother of yours needs to act more mature for a first son. How old is he, and he's still throwing tempers and saying stupid things?"

Izuna could only laugh. "Thats my twin. You should know by now, Pein, that he won't grow up anytime soon. That side of him is for keeps, there's now growing out of personality."

Pein's expressions were bored at best and apathetic at worst as he bit into his bagel. "A shame."

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Author's Note: This is not a serious story. Having said that, I want to acknowledge that the plot idea I'm working with is a very common trope in girl's manga or shojo manga. The number of works where the main heroin falls in love with one of her brothers or where she gets adopted into a family of males or where her parent remarries and she gets a new brother...those stories have all been done before by others and there is nothing original about the plot. The work I was most inspired by was the anime Brother Complex, based off the dating game where a girl gets all these new brothers and lives with them and has to get confessed to by every one of them. I loved the anime, though it wasn't anything to write home about. It was fun and light and I would recommend it.

Getting back on track...This work isn't supposed to be a serious story. It's a fun story filled with humor, crack, and fluff. That's what I want to do for a while and see how it goes. If you liked Pages of Ecstasy, this is going to be like that (but better written). Aside from all the brothers she lives with no she will have her friends and her brother's friends to deal with as well as a few outside males to make the story interesting. Neji was mentioned a little bit here, and I'm sure he will show up later on. The next chapter should be longer than a measly 3206 words, don't worry. Let me know what you think and if you liked it! I have other projects I'm working on as well.

Here is a list of all her brothers in order. (I'm going to keep the ages as undefined as possible because age is just a number in fiction.)

Kakashi  
Madara  
Izuna  
Shisui  
Pein  
Itachi  
Sasori  
Sasuke  
Sai  
Obito  
Tobi


	2. Chapter 2

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Brother Trouble

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First Date in the Lion Den

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The 8th of May came and went. Movers arrived, just as her father warned, and Sakura was forced to live out of her suitcase at Ino's until her underwear supply ran out. The excuse that she was studying for tests and early finals only appeased her father for so long before he started asking for an end date to her classes. Eventually there was nowhere else for Sakura to go, and no more excuses for her to use.

Grumbling, she tossed her reverse dutch braid back over her shoulder, letting it swing free before settling against her spine. Her Skull Candy headphones were nestled over the collar of her distressed denim vest, but they weren't plugged into anything.

Hesitantly, Sakura reached up to touch them for courage. It was arguably her favorite thing of all the material possessions Sakura owned, but it was also a good luck charm that brought her more comfort than the straps of her duffle bag or handles on her purse.

"You can do this, Sakura. It's only for three months and then is back to college. Three months and then you can rent with someone close to campus. You can do this, set a goal and see it through." Sakura exhaled loudly, finding it even harder and hard to take those final steps up to front door, knowing there was no turning back. 'Just try no to be yourself too much.'

"Sakura?"

The green eyed student turned sharply, flinching a bit at the unfamiliar voice. An older male stood on the sidewalk in a suit with a briefcase under his arm. He smiled and Sakura noticed the mismatched color of his eyes. She recognized him from the photos her father brought back.

"Kakashi, is it?" she asked hesitantly, not wanting to sound too much like a stalker. It was a perfectly **_normal_** thing to google people in the modern era just to get an idea of what you should expect.

She extended her hand and he took it, shaking it.

"My, my, you've done your research. I'm not usually the brother new people bother to remember. I'll pretend I'm special and feel flattered. I trust you found the establishment without any difficulty."

Sakura chuckled nervously. It wasn't difficult to miss such finery from the road. "Oh, yeah, no trouble at all. Thanks for the directions. They worked."

Kakashi smiled, tilting his head slightly to the side covering his discolored eye under his purposefully groomed bangs. He was a handsome man, even with the altercation. If anything, it added to his mystery. His face was handsome enough all on its own, but then there was the way he carried himself that added to the allure that made him a well sought after bachelor-according to what her father told her of all the brothers.

_'Middle aged women especially hound after him. The come in droves of home baked goods trying to bait him for themselves. Don't let him know that I told you this, his mother swore she wouldn't tell you because he finds it embarassing, but I'm not her, am I?'_

After meeting Kakashi in person, Sakura didn't have a problem believing her father's words.

"I'm glad, all the same. Would you like me to give you the tour? You looked like you were just about to head in." He nodded with his chin towards the house that was more building than home to Sakura. Four stories and multiple wings made it really look like the luxury apartment complex it used to be. It was intimidating from all angels, even with the open gate.

Sakura looked back at Kakashi and smoothed out her uneven breathing. Kakashi seemed like a decent enough fellow. Being the eldest son, he felt more mature than the guys her own age did. It was almost like being around one of her professors, and that was a feeling she liked. As far as first encounters went, she could do worse.

"Yeah, actually that sounds nice. Thank you."

Bowing her head, Sakura followed in after Kakashi who walked through the front door without hesitation. The interior was decidedly western with high levels of modern flare. He didn't pause in the hallway to take off his shoes or drop his briefcase, but pointed to a hallway off to the left and Sakura followed as he headed in that direction.

"The kitchen and dining room is in the opposite direction. There are general lounge areas here, but the elevator is at the end of the hall and it is the easiest way to get to the forth floor. Most of the males have rooms on the third and second floors, so the forth floor has always been for guests or work out rooms. We though you might feel safer if you had that much more room away from everyone else to start with. It must be awkward, the idea of living with so many strange men you're not even related to."

"What, strange? No, why would anyone think that," Sakura laughed, obviously being sarcastic. Secretly though, she appreciated Kakashi bringing it up. It made her own displeasure feel more valid.

'_Maybe they aren't as frightening as I thought. Damn it Sakura, you let yourself over think this. They're just humans, same as you_.'

"Kakashi, is that you? Did you just get home?" a voice from the room adjacent tot he hall called out. A few seconds later a dark head popped out. Sakura watched as Sasuke's eyes grew wide.

Kakashi waved a hand in front of his face. "Sasuke, good to see you too. I'm afraid I'm busy right now showing Sakura around. Have you met yet?" When Sasuke numbly shook his head from side to side Kakashi hummed in understanding. "Well, you recognize Sakura. And Sakura, this is Sasuke, my cute little student. I'm also his Karate instructor on Tuesdays."

Sakura waved awkwardly. "Nice to meet you, Sasuke."

Sasuke limply waved back, but didn't say anything. Kakashi almost laughed, but when Sakura looked up, she saw the older male hadn't moved a muscle and his lips were still only lines on his face. He caught her looking and his eyes crinkled in a smile all their own.

"I'm sorry, I was showing you to your own room, wasn't I? The elevator is this way, Sakura. Oh Sasuke, you can let the others know once they come home that dinner will be for one extra tonight. I know we're only getting take out but make sure to get some extra. You do like Chinese, don't you, Sakura?"

"Yeah, thank you. I'm not picky."

Kakashi nodded and then led her off towards the elevators. On the way though, Sakura felt like looking back over her shoulder. When she did she saw Sasuke still suck in the same spot with the same expression plastered all over his face.

'Weird kid.'

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_'Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit...'_

Sasuke couldn't believe this was happening.

This was _not_ happening.

He wasn't thinking properly and somehow his brain was sending him mixed signals that made it look like Sakura Haruno was the girl his mother told him about when she announced she was going to get remarried. No, something was wrong with his eyesight, because what was happening couldn't possibly be happening. Things like this _don't_ happen.

Sasuke had always been the heartthrob in high-school, he had always been the one girls fawned and fell in love with and obsessed all year over. As a child the story had been pretty much the same. He came from a family with good genes and the world recognized it, especially the female half. That was how it always was and that was how it always would be. That was just the way things were. Girls went gaga over him, not the other way around.

So when he started taking dual credit classes at the college with a handful of other advanced placement students he didn't expect things to change, but they did. Suddenly he was the one going gaga over a girl and fawning over her shadow and memorizing the lines of her face when she turned to show him a perfect profile, or completely rearranging his school schedule for study just so he could be in the library with her at the same time.

He couldn't help it, it was the first time in his life he had even noticed a girl, and it had to be one of the female-no, the _only_ female that didn't recognize his existence on the planet!

They had two classes together and both were made up of around fifty students. Sure he sat in the back sulking most of the time while she was in the front row, chatting it up with the professors in a manner that made the other kids call her a suck up behind her back, but he had talked to her….once, after she dropped a pen he picked up for her. It was likely not the most memorable moment for her, but Sasuke took that memory home and replayed it over and over in his head, paying attention to all the stupid details like his life depended on it.

And then she ends up being his sister.

He must have been a terrible person in a past life for this sort of fate.

Sasuke felt his knees go weak, but instead of falling into a puddle of tears like he wanted to, he numbly stalked back over to the couch and sat down with a loud plop. Someone up in the cosmic management of fate and the universe was laughing at him now, this was too terrible to just be a random coincidence. The only woman completely and wholly immune to his charms is the one he falls for, and she just happens to end up being his sister.

He replayed the image in his mind as he watched her follow Kakashi to the elevators, paying special close attention to the shapes and lines of her body in motion. She moved with a fluid grace that made him think she was a dancer. She had the body for it. Her hips especially entranced him, the way they fell into a motion that seemed endless as well as hypnotic. All she was doing was walking, but it wasn't hard to imagine her doing…other things with her hips.

"Hn."

Sasuke was screwed.

* * *

Sakura's door had been locked, and while Sakura was excited to see that she had the capability to look people out of her room and barricade herself in for protection, she was a little unnerved about having to wait for Kakashi to run and get someone with a key for her.

"At least I know my things are safe in there," she said aloud, reaching up and running a finger down the length of her headphones. She liked how it felt under her fingertips.

She took a moment to look around at the other rooms closed off on the forth floor. Three more doors were locked, likely meaning they were rooms, and two other rooms were left in, she found that both of these rooms were actually just separate doors for a single entrance. Inside there was a varied spread of work out equipment and training mats. It looked like someone had taken down a wall between the two original rooms since there was a bathroom on either side of the gym.

"Admiring the work?" Kakashi asked in a light, jovial tone, coming back up with another male following behind him.

Sakura was quick to step back out of the room, feeling like she was caught snooping or something. That was stupid though, since it was an open room in the house everyone was telling to start calling her own. "Sorry?" she asked.

Kakashi stepped aside to reveal the male behind him. The new male was pale with copper tinged hair and a face full of piercings. In his hands he held a loop of keys. She recognized him right away from the photograph. Kakashi dropped a heavy hand onto the younger male's shoulders.

"Pein here remodeled the building. He was the one that redesigned everything and fixed it up the way you see it here. He's pretty talented, enough to have his own company for upscale home renovations. If you like this you should see what he did with the rec room."

"One thing at a time." Pein shrugged off the unwelcome hand and then turned to stare at Sakura. A second later he blinked, as if remembering his manners and then inclined his head. "Nice to meet you, Sakura san."

Sakura mirrored the action, making sure her hands were delicately positioned, one over the other as she bowed. Just because she didn't use them often didn't mean she didn't know how to use her manners. "Nice to meet you as well, Pein san. Your rooms are beautiful."

The corner of his lip inched up in a subtle smile. "Thank you. Here." He moved to insert a key and unlock the door to her room. Once the bolts fell out of place, he unhooked the key from the ring and handed it to here. "This is for you. You can lock it from the inside with a deadbolt as well. I have a master key, but that's not going to open the deadbolt. Use it if it makes you feel more comfortable."

She took the key after a second of hesitation, momentarily taken aback by his consideration. She felt much better after hearing about the locks, but she didn't know if _he_ knew that. Was it obvious that she was so hesitant to move in with them? Maybe some of these brothers wouldn't be too bad to live with. Kakashi and Pein seemed kind enough. Ino might have been right about how unreasonable she was being when she first complained about the move.

"Thank you," Sakura said, inclining her head a bit. "That does make me feel a bit more…comfortable. Sorry it that sounds rude."

Kakashi waved his hand as if the idea was preposterous and Pein lightly chuckled. "No, safety isn't something you should be embarrassed to desire. Aside from that, we want you to feel comfortable here."

Pein conveniently left out the part about how frantically obsessive his brothers could be when they found something they desired and Sakura's allure from even before she arrived was a prime example. He had a feeling she would be more frightened than flattered if she knew the degree of their interest.

He pushed open the door to her room and let her walk in first. It was mostly bare with a large stack of boxes collected in the middle of the room. Her desk was the only furniture set up aside from the bookshelf that had originally been in their living space and not her room while Sakura and her father lived in the apartment. Sakura dropped her bags, (the ones she had been carrying from Ino's), by the door and twisted sideways the first box to see what was written on the outside.

"Is there no bed?" Kakashi asked, frowning as he scanned the room.

"Ah, that's what I'm looking for," Sakura answered. "I usually just sleep on the floor on a roll up. There shouldn't be any more furniture than this."

"You don't have a bed?" the older male seemed genuinely concerned, like it was a great travesty to have alternative sleeping arraignments than a traditional, off the floor bed. "Why not?"

Sakura shrugged, still looking among the boxes. "It's what I'm used to. My dad was used to sleeping on worse, so when he would come back home he couldn't stand how soft a bed was. He needed to sleep on something more firm, so we never had beds in my home growing up. It's what you get used to."

Kakashi made a sad sound under his breath. "I don't think I could have ever gotten used to something like that."

Pein moved forward to hold back a box that had started to wobble when Sakura disrupted the brace it leaned again. Smiling, she pulled out a longer box with the word BEDDING written on the side.

Kakashi stepped forward. "Don't you want a bed, though, or at least a couch or futon to sleep on? We have an extra one or two lying around in the spare rooms. No one is using them and they're just going to sit there."

Pein nodded to himself, running a finger under his lip piercings. "We have a metal one that would go nicely with the desk. They're the same style and color." He straightened up and pulled out his ring of keys before mumbling a quiet 'hang on,' and leaving in a hurry.

Sakura paused to listen a dull bang, followed by some scuffling sounded through the walls. Pein appeared in the doorway a moment later. "Here Sakura, have a look and tell me if you want it."

He had pulled out into the hallway a modern looking off the floor futon that folded up to look like a couch. The metal and design was as he had said, and matched her desk perfectly. The fabric was gray with white and black cross hatched as a pattern_. _

"It's cute. It's not too heavy is it?" she said, moving to pick up one side.

Kakashi stopped her with a hand to her shoulder and then removed his suit jacket, hanging it on a nearby door handle. "Please allow us," he said, picking up the side she would of. Pein lifted the other side and together they carried it into her room and set it down against the wall.

Breathing evenly, Kakashi straightened up and then nodded at the futon. "Tell us if you want it somewhere else. It's super light and easy to move around. You can put it wherever you want."

"No, that's fine, thank you." She didn't want to tell them that she could move it if she wanted to since it seemed like a pride thing for guys to pick up heavy things in front of girls and act as if it meant nothing to them. Both of them looked a little bit brighter about their feat of strength.

"Is there anything else that's heavy that you want moved?" Pein asked, eyes still glowing.

"No, I just have….little things left."

"That's it?" Kakashi sounded disappointed. He absently looked around. "The room is so big for so little furniture. Do you want more, we could go shopping for some?"

Pein's eyes lit up. "I know where we could buy for cost. I have an in at the Warehouse. I've worked with them before."

"Yes, there needs to be at least be a nightstand or something here, it's too bare." Kakashi smiled like someone much younger. He resembled a teenage boy with his first Dungeon and Dragons set, rather than the polished lawyer that had all the middle aged women in a tizzy. "We can go some time this week and buy you whatever you want, Sakura. Ah, I have to call into the office and take that day off. Does Tuesday work well for you?"

Sakura had zero commitments and responsibilities after making the transition, but she didn't want it to sound like she was free to be picked up whenever. She wanted to say she was busy and turn the whole offer down because she didn't want to get so involved so soon, but he was going to buy her furniture, not lingerie. It felt like something a father would do, though Sakura's father had never been that way before, so it was just speculation on her part. She wanted to say no, but something in her chest began to hurt when she saw his excited expression so full of hope. He was like a puppy.

"I…I should be free. Yeah, I…I think so."

"Excellent! I'm going to make the arrangements!" Still smiling, Kakashi reached out to pet the top of Sakura's head before moving past her and retrieving his jacket. She could hear his foot steps as he skipped the elevator and went straight for the stairs.

"I think he's always wanted a little sister. He dotes too much on the younger ones, Obito and Tobi especially." Sakura turned to look back at Pein who was fingering the outside of her boxes. When he caught her looking at him he smiled. "I'm sorry, but it makes him very happy to spoil his favorites. There's no avoiding it."

"Should I be worried?"

Pein shook his head and almost laughed. "No, but make sure you tell him if you think he's bothering you. He should know how to restrain himself." H paused before continuing. "But…. at the same time, don't hold back if there is something you want. He likes being taken advantage of, that's why Obito and Tobi are his favorites. Sasuke and Sai are younger, but they hate being doted on, and tell him all the time, so he backs off."

"What do you think of that?" Sakura asked, pulling free a box marked BOOKS. She tried to pull the lids apart with her bare hands, but the tape only stretched, refusing to rip. Pein sliced it easily with a knife he kept in his pocket. Sakura raised a single brow at the impressive blade he just so happened to keep in his back pocket but Pein didn't seem fazed.

"I've just come to accept it as his personality. Honestly, I find it creepy, but I understand it better now." He began helping her unload the box of its books, pausing to read a few titles. "He likes being useful."

"What do you mean by that?" she asked.

But Pein wasn't thinking about Kakashi anymore. He was holding up a copy of The Persian Letters that Sakura had abused over the years. It was hi-lighted, marked, dog eared, and the spine was broken. His smile was a bit more pronounced on his lips. "I think you need a new one."

Sakura rolled her eyes and snatched the book back. "No, this is one of my favorites. I want to do my thesis on the gender identity the book addresses in eighteenth century France."

"When do you plan on writing your thesis?"

"…Not for a while. I'm not that far along in my studies yet, so it all could change, but I love this story. Any book that ends up with women overthrowing the harem construct and ranting matriarchal poetry before a self righteous, yet vengeful suicide is literary gold, thank you very much."

Pein chuckled. "For someone so shy I didn't expect you to have such a opinion."

Sakura raised a single brow, forgetting to be shy for a moment. "Is that such a bad thing?"

"Oh no, on the contrary. I think that's a good thing."

Pein helped Sakura unload a few more things before Kakashi came back to help, though it ended up being less productive the more the males interacted with Sakura. They would find things and ask Sakura about them and she would be forced to explain their significance, tying back her voodoo dolls to an especially bad lit processor she ended up nicknaming the voodoo lady, or a pair of oversized glasses from a video blog she helped her friend do over the summer for a Mass Media 101 project.

With every story, a little bit more of the real Sakura started to show, and both the males noticed. She had been shy and polite in the beginning, but it was the artificially constructed shyness that came about when a person tries to hide who they really were for the sake of propriety or self preservation. Pein especially became enamored with the idea of seeing the real Sakura underneath the mask. Kakashi was content to dote on her and spoil her with compliments and praises, but Pein wanted to know her.

He didn't expect it, but he caught a glimpse of it in her things, in her polished manners, in the air that surrounded her; there was more to Sakura Haruno than he had first anticipated. She was more than just a stunning face with a body monks would weep for. She thought quickly and deeply, but didn't always voice her thoughts. He could tell when she bit something back by the way a vein under her jaw would jump, like she was swallowing the witty words before they could escape. He wanted those words. The want to be the one who heard her words filled him more fully and more quickly than he ever thought possible. He didn't get infatuated with women post high-school, especially not women that two of his brothers had already voiced interest in.

He remembered how it made him upset when he heard that his brothers were talking about their new sibling in an unbrotherly fashion. They saw her first and foremost as a woman and not a sister for some reason, and had made it clear to the rest of the brood that they were interested. Now, it still made him upset, but for different reasons.

They didn't know Sakura. They had never met Sakura and couldn't understand who she really was through silly things like pictures and videos. Their feelings were superficial. Their feelings would pass, they would move on. At least, that's what Pein hoped. It hadn't been what attracted _him_, but now that he looked for it, Pein could see what his brothers first noticed about Sakura.

Far off, the sound of the front door slamming shut and someone shouting drifted upwards.

Sakura stiffened.

Absently, Kakashi looked up from an old high-school yearbook. "That would be the rest of the family, or most of them, I should hope. Everyone is busy with their jobs or school until now."

"All of them?" Sakura asked. She looked to Kakashi first and then Pein.

Pein wanted to answer, but Kakashi was quicker.

"It's by choice. Naturally, school ends earlier for Tobi, Sai, and Obito, but Obito has cram school and Sai has club activities. Tobi is usually picked up by one of the older brothers depending on what day it is. We have a chart on the fridge."

"And everyone else."

"Most work, and work dismisses around five unless you are your own boss," Kakashi answered, smiling at Pein and then himself.

There were more sounds from downstairs and Sakura tried to distinguish some of the sounds, but she was too far away to make out anything. Pein couldn't make out anything either, but he recognized his brothers enough to know that Shisui was at least home. He was the loudest out of all of them.

"So…I get to meet everyone at once?" Sakura asked, having given up on trying to hear anything more.

"Should be. I should go and see if Sasori remembered to bring home the food, otherwise I have to order it." Kakashi got up to leave, but stopped int he doorway to turn back and smile again. "Once the food is ready you can come down whenever you want, Sakura. Don't feel pressured."

That left Pein with Sakura again. He turned towards her, planning to strike up a more intimate conversation about the dynamics of a constructed patriarchy in ancient Greece, when he noticed her tight lipped expression.

"You don't have to be too nervous."

Sakura turned towards the sound of his voice, flinching a bit at the sound.

Pein shrugged. "I won't go down until you do, so you don't have to feel awkward walking into a room full of strangers. At least we're not strangers anymore, right?"

"No, I don't think we are. I'm actually really grateful you and Kakashi were the first two I met here. I had a lot of reservations about making this move on my own…especially on my own. I mean, you would think my dad would be here or pretend to be concerned about the fact that his daughter is uprooting her life again and moving in with a bunch of guys she is supposed to think of as brothers." She winced at her own words. "I'm sorry, this sounds rude, doesn't it? I…It will just be a long time, I think, before I can really make that adjustment. I've never had siblings before, much less brothers."

When she mentioned her father, Pein had seen the tightness in the skin around her eyes stretch out, as if she were forcing herself not to glare.

"You don't have to."

She looked up, blinking. "What?"

"Brothers. You don't have to think of us as brothers if you don't want to. You're right. It is a lot to ask of someone especially so late in life. It would be a bit weird if didn't grapple with it a bit, but hopefully we can start off as friends."

Crossing his arms over his chest Pein looked up around him at the walls of her room. "Just think of this as an apartment, not a home. We're tenements, not brothers. You're renting from us, not forced to live here because of something your father said or did. Start off with that story and see if you can look at us as friends instead of brothers. It'll be easier."

She reached up to touch the length of her headphones, but caught a stray curl of hair instead, tucking it back up into her braid. "Dang, now I really feel bad. I didn't think about what it would be like for you guys. It must not be pleasant having your lives disrupted in such a way. Don't think I'm always this melodramatic."

"I won't."

Sakura looked over at Pein again, sizing him up and down briefly before taking a step back and extending a hand. He reached out to take it before she said anything more. There was something unspoken that passed between them. They would start over as friends, forget about the brother business, and start anew.

When she broke off the handshake, he wanted to linger in her touch just a minute more, but controlled himself for fear of coming off too strong.

Sakura asked if she could change out of her old clothes for dinner, growing self conscious about how grubby she looked in her shredded jeans and distressed denim vest. Normally she wouldn't mind, or care what others thought about how she dressed, but she wanted to make a better impression after having met Kakashi and Pein.

Pein said he would wait outside and call her when dinner was ready. He closed the door behind him and, true to his word, waited across the hallway with his back the wall. A few minutes later he looked up, hearing footsteps. They weren't hers.

"What are you doing here?"

Sasuke scowled at the question. "Me? What are you doing here. You look like a creeper."

Pein eyed his younger brother up and down, trying to intimidate the natural born Uchiha. "I'm waiting for someone, so I have a reason, you don't."

Sasuke shoved his hands into his pockets. "How do you know I wasn't up here to use the gym?"

"Because it's you, Sasuke. You don't like a shared gym. You have to work out in your room or in a closet somewhere. No one ever really uses this floor or this gym."

Sasuke glared a little harder for a little longer before relenting, turning his head away and making a 'che' sound through his teeth. "Kakashi said dinner was ready…." There was a pause. "I came to get Sakura."

So, Sasuke knew about their sister, and more importantly, was interested in their sister. It was easy to see and terribly difficult for someone as inexperienced as Sasuke to hide. Sasuke never liked anyone except maybe his mother. He had no experience with trying to hide these new emotions. Somehow this unnerved Pein. Another Uchiha son was smitten.

"Thanks, I'll tell her for you. When she's done we'll come down."

Sasuke didn't move.

Pein raised a single brow. "Yes?"

Sasuke shifted the weight of his body from one foot to the other, hands still in his pockets. "I thought I would just tell her in persona and say hello again."

"Again."

Sasuke looked like he wanted to rub the back of his neck to alleviate the pressure, but he didn't. "Yeah, she and Kakashi walked by on their way up and I didn't really say anything to her….I…thought I could say hello properly before everyone else overwhelms her."

"Did Kakashi tell them she was here."

"No, they don't know yet."

That was probably a good thing.

Sasuke opened his mouth to say something more, but the words died on his lips at the sound of a door swinging open behind him.

Sakura blinked, looking both of them over, noticing their very different postures, before nodding to Sasuke. She was wearing a gray dress with a higher neck and sleeves that stopped just past her elbow. A long medallion hung past her breasts, prone to swinging on account of her bustiness. Pein noted that she had hidden her curvature well under the denim vest from earlier, but this dress was a bit more form fitting, even if it did try to be modest in covering her skin.

Noticing their stares she glanced down at her naked toes, wondering if she should put her boots back on. No, she was tired and wanted to feed the floor under her toes for once that day. Noticing Sasuke she looked over at him and smiled.

"Neh, Sasuke kun, I couldn't place it earlier, but we had History of Ideas I together, don't we?"

Pein turned sharply to stare at Sasuke, surprised by her statement. Sasuke didn't notice his other brother as he nodded.

Sakura beamed.

"Are you going to take the second course, History of Ideas II, next semester?"

Sasuke nodded mutely again.

"Next time you show up for class point me out, I'll save you a seat and help you get on the professor's good side."

In the background Pein was burning holes into the back of Sasuke's head, hoping the younger brother would pass out or fall through the floor or something. Sasuke was an annoyance more than anything, but today Pein felt especially fed up with the younger student. The fact that Sakura hadn't said anything to Pein yet didn't help matters.

Sasuke only managed another nod. He tried to say something, but when he looked her in the face his own cheeks began to turn pink and his ears burned. His breathing became a little bit faster as he forced the words out. "D-Dinner is ready. I cametoletyouknowthefoodwasreadyandtogetyousopleasecomedown, thank you." Stiff as a plank, Sasuke bowed from the waist and then took off for the stairs, leaving Sakura alone with Pein.

"He's a weird kid, don't get to close or you'll catch it," Pein murmured, pushing off the wall and holding out his hand for her to take. "Shall we?"

Sakura bobbed her head in response and followed Pein towards the elevator, but never took his hand. The ride down was uneventful, but once the doors slid open Sakura could hear the commotion coming from the kitchen and the adjacent dinning room.

"Sai, put those plates back."

"They're too fancy, why are they out?"

"I told you to put them back!"

"Shut up, dickless, you're too loud."

"Oi, Kakashi why is the table even set at all?"

"I told you we have a guest."

"Tobi wants a guest! Give me-gimme."

There were noises and lots of background sounds as the boys pulled out chairs and set things down around the table.

"A fancy guest from work? Why would you invite someone here?"

Sakura and Pein stopped just shy of the threshold and Kakashi catch sight of them before anyone else. He was the only one so close to see them. At their appearance he sighed in relief and held out his arm, beckoning them both into the room.

"No, not someone from work." Sakura stepped out with Pein at her side, keeping her gaze set on Kakashi even as the room snapped into silence. "Sakura finally came home. Everyone, be nice, this is her first family dinner here and I don't want her being scared off!"

Steeling her resolve, Sakura turned to face the room full of stunned males, all of whom she would have to call brother.

.

* * *

AN:/ Much longer than I first wanted it to be. The next chapter will take some time to finish, but here is a little taste of what is to come. In the next chapter she sits down to eat with Itachi and Sasori and Izuna and Madara and...well, all I can say is that it isn't the most _controlled_ dinner Sakura was ever a part of. But nothing is ever very controlled when Madara gets around Sakura.

Please review!

Vesper chan


	3. Chapter 3

Let the Fire Water Burn

* * *

Sakura couldn't remember a time in her life where she had been more uncomfortable. There had been a few times when she feared for her life, and a few times when she had feared for her perfect GPA, and a few times when she had felt creeped out by the presence of some people, but it all paled in comparison to the gut turning discomfort that dominated her slender body. She hadn't expected it to be this bad, especially not after having met Kakashi and Pein-both of whom turned out to be decent fellows.

Nine of the eleven sons stared back at her with wide eyes that prolonged the awkward silence. She tried to swallow but she couldn't make her throat work. Too much of her was frozen stiff. She felt naked and vulnerable. The way a few of them raked their eyes over her body only made it worse.

The youngest, Tobi, was the first to speak. "Onee-san!"

He then launched himself across the distance and jumped so that she had to catch him in her arms, least he fall on his face in front of her. She strained a bit, more from surprise than from effort, as she pulled him up into her arms and held him close. He had already wrapped his little legs around her waist and was nuzzling his face into her neck. Sakura didn't know what to do as Tobi laughed into her shoulder.

"Onee san is here, onee san is here, yay now I have a big sister!" He hugged her tighter, refusing to fall.

It was _nice_.

"Tobi chan," she murmured into his own hair. When he didn't look up she tapped the back of his skull. He looked up and smiled widely at her.

He laughed through his teeth. "You said my name." Burying his face in her neck and snuggled closer. "I love you onee- san."

Sakura felt her own cheeks go red and her chest fluttered a bit. He was way too cute for his own good, no wonder Kakashi loved to spoil him. He was a baby faced angel with dark curls and warm arms. Who could refuse falling in love with such a bundle? It didn't hurt that he had been the one to save her from feeling like crap after walking in on all the males.

Remembering where she was, Sakura looked up over Tobi's head. She was instantly reacquainted with the feeling of utter crap. They were _still_ staring.

'_Still_?'

"Okay you guys, that's enough. No one here looks intelligent, so you can stop trying to impress Sakura. Sasuke, why are you hiding in a corner?" Kakashi came up behind Sakura and put a hand on her shoulder. Like magic, all the other males in the room seemed to snap out of their trance.

A few of them started shoving and she could hear one of the younger ones whining, 'the hell Kakashi, you couldn't have warned us?'

The two eldest twins, Izuna and Madara were first to the front, though it looked like Izuna was trying to hold back his brother who in turn was trying to push Shisui back with only one hand. He shook both the males off easily enough and reached down to hug her, squishing Tobi between them. The young boy struggled a bit, so Madara pulled back enough to identify the small bundle, and pull him off his new sister before trying to hug her again. Only Shisui beat him to it, pushing Madara out of the way and swooping in for the treat.

"Much better," she heard him whisper to himself. "Ah, Sakura chan, my cute little sister, I'm so happy to finally meet you, it's been too long since we first heard you were coming! You don't know how anxious we've all been in looking forward to your arrival."

"Shisui san," Sakura murmured, going stiff from the contact. She could feel it through his shirt, the fine edges and curves of his artfully crafted physique. And he was squeezing her so tightly too.

"Bastard, let go of her already," Madara growled, recovering next to his brother. Shisui merely glared over Sakura's head before pulling down an eye lid and sticking out his tongue.

"That's enough," Pein interrupted, grabbing the Uchiha by the scruff of his collar and prying him off of eyes were concentrated pools of storm sky. "Can't you see she's turning blue? If she passes out on us I'll kill you."

Shisui made a distressed face and reached for Sakura again, his own eyes wide and glassy. "No, my Sakura chan, don't hate me, I would never hurt you!"

"Idiot," Itachi whispered under his breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. "And to think we are related."

"Not only that, but that the two of you are such close friends," Sasori added in a drawl, seeming for the most part uninterested in moving even though he was one of the brothers that stared the longest at her.

'Much cuter in real life,' Sasori inwardly chuckled.

Kakashi made a dismissive sound in the back of his throat. "Not nice you boys. Give Sakura some space and let her properly introduce herself. You've been overwhelming her since she first walked in. Any other person would have run for the hills by now."

"No Sakura chan don't run away from me!" Madara cried, still restrained by his brother. It was hard to believe he was supposed to be the eldest, or one of the eldest sons with the way he was acting. Though maybe it was an Uchiha thing, seeing as how Sasuke had been a blushing, blubbering mess and Shisui had been…well…

Sakura looked over at the grinning Uchiha who was still staring at her.

'No, that's not normal, no matter what.'

She felt a pat on the back of her shoulder and looked up to see Kakashi staring down at her with a confident smile. Oh, that's right. She was supposed to introduce herself or something.

Crossing her hands in front of her, palm atop knuckles, she inclined her head and lowered her eyes. "Nice to meet you. I am Sakura Haruno. Please take care of me while I stay with you."

Madara and Shisui made sounds of pleasure from opposite ends of the room and she could have sworn she heard 'too cute' being whispered under someone's breath. She kept her eyes downcast as she raised her head, making sure her shoulders stayed sharp and strong. Perfect posture wasn't something she as used to holding, but she could when she needed to, and it became a source of pride for her.

Madara stepped up, a little breathless as he approached her in a more controlled manner. He wasn't being held back anymore, but he didn't look like he was about to attack her the way he had wanted to earlier. He swallowed and placed a hand over his chest, indicating to himself. "Hello Sakura chan. I'm Madara, the eldest son. I'm CEO of Paper Lanterns, a subside of Uchiha corps that deals with security technologies. I'm at the office most days, but please don't hesitate to rely on me if ever you need something. I'm not very busy and I can leave whenever I want because I'm the boss."

Sakura took a half step back and nodded, taking a moment to looked the eldest Uchiha over. He was tall just like Kakashi with long black hair that fell over his shoulders in wayward silken strands. He was dressed in a business suit, but had discarded the jacket over a chair behind him so that he stood in a crisp white button down and gray trousers. She swallowed when she caught her reflection in the shine of his Italian leather A. Testoni Norvegese. His shoes looked more expensive than her entire closet.

Izuna stepped up beside his brother. He looked near identical to his brother with the pale skin, dark hair and full lips, but Sakura noticed a few minor differences that made the twins fraternal and not identical. Like his brother, Izuna wore a suite, but his was less flashy and more broken in. His hair was also shorter, left free to frame his face.

"I am Izuna, the second son. My brother and I are especially glad to have you and welcome you into our home. Please treat it as your own. I work independently as an accountant." He smiled warmly at her. "It's not glamorous, but if you need to rely on someone, I am equally willing to lend you all of my strength." He finished with an incline of his head.

"Oh, oh, my turn!" Shisui waved his hand and drew the room's attention to himself. "My name is Shisui Uchiha, I'm almost a police commissioner, but for now I'm on the police force with Itachi. I'm really dependable so don't hesitate to rely on me over any of my other brothers."

"Please," Itachi breathed under his breath. When he looked up again he saw that the room looked to him.

Pein waved absently, eyeing Sakura. "We've already been introduced."

Itachi took a deep breath and steeled his features back into a a controlled state that wasn't exactly cold when it was directed at her, even though that was what it had been when he looked to his brothers. "Ah, I am Itachi Uchiha. As Shisui said, I work with the police unit while still attending university classes. I hope you feel welcome here, Sakura san."

He then elbowed his red haired brother, noticing the younger male was still stuck in a staring daze. "Sasori." The red head supplied, blinking once. Calculating.

Sakura raised a single brow, mentally chalking up his behavior as _weird_.

Sasuke looked panicked as the room looked to him. He stared over at Sakura and panicked a little bit more. "A-ah, we've already…met," he stuttered out, unable to meet her eyes again.

From the other end of the room Sai rolled his eyes and muttered an insult under his breath. That seemed to snap Sasuke back into character as he glared hard at the younger Uchiha. Sai plastered on a fake smile that was too perfectly crafted to make anyone comfortable around him.

Sasuke hated that about Sai. "What was that?"

Sai continued to smile at his elder brother. "You're acting like the dickless wonder."

Sasuke growled, the hairs on the back of his necks standing up with feral energy. Kakashi moved form behind Sakura to grab Sasuke's shoulder and hold him back, laughing nervously. "Ah, they like to tease each other sometimes. Brothers, you know. Ahem, Sai, you should introduce yourself."

Sai looked over at Sakura cooly, eyeing her like a piece of furniture before determining if it was a knock off or the real deal. Sakura didn't like being ogled, but the way Sai looked at her made her feel so much more devalued it turned her stomach. He was dressed in straight leg jeans and a charcoal long sleeve. His hair was short and combed down, and his skin was much paler than anyone else's. He was younger than her, still in high school, but he was looking down on her.

Forgetting herself, Sakura stood taller and narrowed her own eyes, meeting his glare with one of her own. Their energies snapped in the room, She felt the temperature drop and her skin itched, rising to compensate the difference.

He spoke first. "Hello Sakura san, you already know who I am."

Sakura didn't say anything to that, but made a noise in the back of her throat that could have been one of acknowledgment. Sai shrugged and turned away, looking to Obito who was worriedly glancing between the two. When Sakura looked over at the younger freshman her glare melted into a less intimidating smile that encouraged him to speak up.

Obito coughed into his hand and then laughed. "Ah, cool, okay, so, I'm Obito and I don't work or do anything important yet, but I want to follow my big brothers into the police force. That's my dream." Suddenly feeling at ease, he threw his arms behind his head and smiled wide. "You'll like it here. It's cool and we have a lot of fun together most of the time. Do you like video games?"

Sakura chuckled a bit to herself. "Yes, but I'm not very good at anything to be competitive."

"Ah, I'll teach you!" He looked to Tobi and then to Sakura. "I'm good at showing people how to play video games! I taught Tobi everything he knows."

Tobi smiled brightly. "Yup."

"Are we going to eat or do we want cold Chinese food?" Sai suddenly asked, uncrossing his arms and heading back towards the table. Sasuke glared at his brother, but didn't make a move even as Itachi pinched him on the shoulder to get him to move. He whipped his head around and asked a hushed 'what?' before Itachi gave him a pointed look. Sasuke got the message, moving to the table with everyone as Kakashi began to open up the cartons and set out the sides.

"It'll be buffet style tonight," he said.

"Sakura san, here you go," Izuna said, pulling out a plate and handing it to her gently. Behind him his twin choked on his own words, holding two plates that he hadn't meant to keep for himself. Izuna must have sensed this without looking, since he winked at Sakura before turning around to dig into the food. Madara threw a hissy fit behind his brother.

"Sakura chan, do you like Chinese food?" Obito asked, staying close to Sakura even though it looked like he really wanted food.

Tobi was pestering Kakashi to fill his plate for him and the other males were trying to look natural as they gathered around the food and tried not to say or do anything that might be weird for a girl's company. Sakura didn't miss the not so subtle peeks they were taking at her over their shoulders or under their arms. The only one not trying to be subtle was Sasori. He couldn't seem to stop staring at her with his abnormally doe shaped eyes widened beyond their normal size.

"Yeah, it's been a while since I last had take out though. I'm used to cooking most of my own meals. This is a treat."

"You can cook?" Obito gasped, forgetting his plate or the food he was scooping onto it. "Like, you can make homemade food for real without buying it halfway."

"Yeah, my dad thought it would be appropriate for me to learn to take care of myself in situations like that. He wasn't there very often so I got pretty good at fending for myself. It's so weird to think there are going to be other people in the house with me now."

"Don't worry Sakura chan, we'll make you feel plenty welcome in no time. Before you know it, you won't be able to stand living alone." Obito flashed her a bright grin and a wide thumbs up. Behind him, Sai jus rolled his eyes.

The group migrated to the living room where four low tables that sat in front of the huge recliner couch were pulled apart so everyone had a place to put their plates as they sat community style and chatted. Somehow, Sakura found herself next to Itachi with Pein at her other side. Sasori sat down directly across from her, edging out Sasuke who had been trying to build up the courage the get that close to her.

"I hope you're not too overwhelmed by all of this," Itachi smoothly drawled, breaking into her train of thoughts with a velvety baritone. His voice was soothing to the ear.

"Ah, thank you, everyone has been so kind and welcoming. I don't know what to say."

Itachi smiled softly, seeing through her polite facade. "Don't worry. It's going to be stressful at first, but that is natural with any large change you make or take in life, though, this family can be especially challenging at time. We've said this before, but let us know if there is anything we can do to make your stay more pleasant. The brothers are all looking forward to a chance to spoil their cute little sister or idolize their cool older sister. We see it as a privilege to count you as one of our precious siblings."

Pein chuckled from beside Sakura. "Itachi, that's the most I've ever heard you speak at dinner, I think."

Itachi smiled politely. "Ah, who could say no to such pleasant conversation."

Pein smiled back just as politely, but scooted closer to Sakura. Itachi noticed and his eyes narrowed a fraction. Not to be outdone, the dark haired Uchiha brother scooted closer to Sakura himself.

"Sakura," Izuna interrupted, sitting down next to Sasori and diagonally across from her. The two brothers he had been managing to keep away from her (Madara and Shisui) were pinned down by Tobi and Kakashi, freeing the responsible brother up to make small talk with his younger sister. "Tell me about the friend you were staying so long with. You two must be close to live together for so long."

Ino was was to talk about, and the story of how they met as kids, to how they fought as older kids, and how they grew together as teenagers came tumbling out so easily. Her brothers listened intently, more captivated by how willing and eager she was to speak than the actual conversation.

"Do you still ever play volleyball with her?" Izuna asked.

Sakura shrugged, rolling some noodles around her chopsticks. "From time to time. But the two of us are still really busy. She's in Media and Mass Communication right now, so she has to spend a butt-load of hours online for her major, even over the summer because that plays into her graduating thesis."

"What's her thesis about?" Itachi asked, pretending to eat as he listened in.

"She has a vlog she activates during the summer and it's a social media project she's engineered in order to support her ideas on what it is that attracts individuals to certain aspects of the internet-more specifically Youtube. It was pretty brilliant of her, actually, considering she just started doing it for kicks and giggles."

"What are her videos about."

Sakura paused a bit in her eating. She wanted to shrugged it off and say 'stuff' or make up an excuse, but her brain couldn't think of a lie fast enough, and she already looked awkward with her food hovering his beyond her parted mouth. It would be really uncomfortable to reveal that Ino's channel was a take off of GirlCode from MTV where women from various backgrounds and personalities give their advice on current events in culture and questions in general. Because the video channel relied heavily on the feedback Ino receives, most of her vlog episodes were about romance or dating advice, since that is what most people wanted to hear about. It was even more embarrassing to admit that Sakura was a guest speaker for quite a few of those videos.

What was it her professors warned her about? '_Be careful what you put online because it will last forever._' Well, at least it wasn't anything indecent or inappropriate, just embarrassing in a personal way.

"Ah, well," Sakura coughed into her hand, preparing her slight understatement. "It really depends on what the audience leans towards, but she tries to keep the content related to asking and answering the most relevant questions. But yeah…what did you all do for college?"

"Art." Sasori was the first to respond.

"Business," Itachi nodded.

"Business as well," Pein added.

"Accounting in buisness," said Izuna.

Sakura blinked, looking over at the red head of their group. "Sasori san, what made you want to pursue art?"

Pein and Itachi quietly sighed on either side of her, one of them mutter a quiet, 'here we go again.'

"It's a stupid question and it's not worth answering." Sai interrupted. He was standing up with his empty plate in his hands and it looked like he was getting up to go for seconds. "You don't even really care, do you? Stop asking questions as if you do, it's annoying."

"Sai!" Itachi was quick to reprimand the younger brother.

"Save us all some time and admit it. You didn't even want to be a part of this and you wouldn't be here unless you were forced." Itachi was quick to stand and Izuna followed. Sai scowled, taking a step back. "I'm going to eat in my room. Don't call me when you're done."

"Apologize before you leave." Izuna's voice was hard but Sai was already walking away.

"I don't make it a habit to lie." He called back over his shoulder and then he was gone, out of the room and out of sight.

Pein hadn't moved since Sai first spoke up. He had been watching Sakura since the first insults were thrown almost as intently as Sasori. He expected her to cry or for her eyes to water at least, but there was no reaction there for him to pick up on. She blinked once or twice, but she didn't look offended or upset in the slightest. She was strong like folded steel, taking it all in without wounding.

"Sakura?" he hesitantly called. She looked to him and her face was perfect. He swallowed and tried to find the words as Itachi and Izuna sat back down.

"That's it!" Madara cried, standing up finally. He moved around Kakashi and placed something down on the table in front of them all. "This party needs livening up. Kakashi, take Tobi and Obito to bed, the adults are going to be drinking and gambling."

"No fair, Sasuke doesn't have to leave and he's only a little but older than me!" Obito shouted.

"No fair, no fair, Tobi wants to stay with Sakura chan too!"

"To bed, brats," Madara sighed, pulling out low, bowl shaped cups to pour the sake into

Nobody rushed to defend Obito or Tobi, since that meant less competition for Sakura's attention, even if it was only two bodies kicked out of the room, it was something. Obito looked to Sasuke for backup, but his older brother was reaching for a cup and looking at Sakura the entire time. Before Obito could say anything more, Kakashi came up behind him and Tobi and began ushering them upstairs.

"But it's not even seven!"

"You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here," Madara said with a wave of his hand over his shoulder. Fixing his attention back on Sakura, he grinned and pressed an empty cup into her hands. "Here, let me fill that for you."

"Do you drink, Sakura?" Itachi asked, watching his brother wearily.

Sakura stared at the clear liquid in her cup and suppressed a grimace. "Um, sometimes. But only a little. I'm not fond of getting smashed like some of my friends. I'm usually the designated driver or the one that gets us home afterwards."

"It might help you relax a bit, but don't feel like you have to if you don't want to," Izuna added, giving his brother a pointed look that seemed to communicate 'don't be pushy' with nothing but eyes.

Madara pouted, but pulled out a stack of cards all the same from under the table. "You're no fun, brother. I'm trying to be welcoming, not pushy."

Izuna made another face. "That's Cards against Humanity you just pulled out. You should start off with something a little less inappropriate for a first game." Izuna reached across the table and scooped up the small box of cards before returning them to the lower department were assorted games were stored. He then produced a double packet of regular playing cards. "Something easy."

"You mean something lame," Madara grumbled.

"We could play reverse old maid," Sasori spoke up. He had been sullen and quiet since Sai cut him off from going into a speech about art in front of Sakura.

"Reverse old maid?" Sakura echoed, tilting her head slightly to one side.

"It's like regular old maid, but in this version getting the old maid card is what you want. In this version there is only one winner, the person with the old maid card at the end. We used to play this for favors or bribes."

"Or rewards," Madara laughed. "What should the winner get if they win?"

"I remember playing this," Pein said aloud. "Those who run out of cards and drop out have to pay a penalty. Drink a shot and confess something. We even played it one time with truth or dare mixed in, but that was when we were younger, and we didn't let Sasuke play."

Sasuke glowered. "I'm old enough _now_. No one answered Madara. What does the winner get if they win?

Madara's face took on a pink tint and he had to swallow. "S-Sakura, would you like to chose a prize for the winner? What do you think the winner should get? Would a brother sister date to the movies be unreasonable?"

Tension ran through the group and all the males sat up a little straighter while Sakura just blinked.

"Would I have to pay for it?" she asked, making a slight face.

"No, that would be our pleasure," Izuna smoothly replied.

"How is that fair, since I win no matter who ends up with the queen? And what about if I end up with the queen? Do I take myself out?"

"It would be a honor for the rest of us to treat you. Don't feel like you're taking advantage of anyone. And if you win you can ask a favor from any one of us or something else." Pein smiled easily. "Does that sound fair?"

"If you think so," Sakura replied, fidgeting in her seat. "It would just have to be when I'm free, so that's something that can be worked out later. Um, are we going to wait for Kakashi to come back and join us?"

Pein had already pulled the extra decks out and was sorting through them to remove the queens. "Don't worry about him. He already said he was taking you out to shop for furniture, also, he is likely busy getting Tobi ready for bed."

Madara wilted in the middle of sorting his own deck of cards. "Eh, you already have a date? No fair, Kakashi had an unfair advantage in meeting you before any of us."

"It's only to get furniture, and I don't need much, so it's not a big deal…or anything like that." Sakura started to feel uncomfortable. It didn't sound like a date when Kakashi talked to her about it. To her, it sounded like an errand or a simple outing. But was it inappropriate of her to really take advantage of someone like that? They probably thought she was a gold digger. Sai would.

"If you want a date so badly you have to win it," Sasori cut in, scooping up the discarding queens and setting them off to the side. "And you have to win it fair and square like the rest of us, no cheating."

"You're a brat," Madara huffed, settling down on the floor next to the red head. Pein and Itachi sat down on the floor around the table and Sakura followed, awkwardly squeezing herself in between then two while being careful not to let them peek up her dress. Izuna had already started to cut three of the four decks they were using, while Itachi shuffled the last one. He then tossed the deck towards Izuna to distribute.

"Oh, and another rule we added last time," Madara began, slyly glancing over the top of his cards. "Take a pull of booze whenever someone makes a match off of you."

"E-eh?" Sasuke sat up straighter. "How are you supposed to stay sober through this game?"

Madara just chuckled and Sakura's cheeks burned. What had she done?

* * *

While the game progressed downstairs, Kakashi was busy getting Obito ready for bed and getting his organized for school the next day. Down the hall, Sai was walking out of on of the entertainment rooms with a headset he planned to borrow for his own gaming system when a rough hand yanked at his elbow.

He cursed, spinning around and slamming backwards against the wall. He choked, feeling air leave his lungs, but then he chuckled, a fake smile slipping over his features.

"Look, it's my favorite brother here to lecture me again. I didn't think you would be able to pull yourself away from the party. Weren't you waiting for this day for months?"

Shisui chuckled, leaning his forearm tighter against the younger's windpipe. "My precious little brother needs to remember how bad it can be for him when he lets that radical honesty get in the way of things…things like his lies. Admit it Sai, you're even more fake than I am, and I lie for a living."

Sai struggled, but Shisui wouldn't let him go. "Release me or I'l scream."

Shisui pressed harder against the windpipe. "Not if you can't breath."

Sai's fake smile fell and the compliance settled back into his eyes as he bowed his head ever so slightly. Shisui eased up and eventually backed away from Sai so that the younger Uchiha could walk away from the wall and stand on his own two feet.

Shisui let go of a breath. "Ah, see, that's what I wanted from you earlier. Is that to hard, just to listen to you brother without complaining or threatening? You're lucky I'm being this civil with you after that stunt you pulled. You've done some dick things in the past, but I don't think I've ever seen you act so stupidly in front of me before. You should have known better, so why did you think it was a good idea to make Sakura chan listen to your crap heap of lies?"

"I wasn't lying. It's obvious she was uncomfortable there. You were all making her uncomfortable and it's true what I said about her not caring. Why else do you think she put off coming here for so long?"

Shisui's cherry expression fell and the shadows stretched a little farther across his face. "She had finals and school, you idiot. You think it was easy to make such a huge change so late in life? Of course she's going to be a little apprehensive-"

"It's not that. She doesn't want to be here. I can tell by the way she holds herself. Her body language is screaming it even if her expressions aren't. Maybe she's convinced herself to be polite and pretend not to hate it here, but she's lying. She doesn't like it here. She doesn't like us." Sai didn't bother to hide his displeasure as he let it seep into his tone.

"Well, it's not like that's going to get any better if you treat her like crap the way you did. Even if what you said was true, if she was being forced, then that's all the more reason to try and make her feel welcomed and supported. She's here now and there's nothing you can do about it, even if you want to drive her away."

Sai kept himself from rolling his eyes. "I noticed. You and your brothers are pathetic. I can't believe you call yourselves men with the way you obsess over someone and yet fail to see even the basics. Try caring a little less and maybe you'll be more honest with yourself."

Shisui sized up his brother and something cold came into the Uchiha's eyes. "Heh, if I didn't know any better, I would say it sounds like… like you actually care for Sakura. You're not mental are you? Do you think you were doing her any favors back there?"

This time Sai really did roll his eyes. "Oh shut up." He tried to take a step away but Shisui was faster. The older Uchiha blocked the hallway, no longer smiling.

"Don't think you can lie to me as easily as you can lie to yourself or the others. Stay away from her and don't you dare think about talking to her again if you're going to use that sort of language with her. I don't care if she is uncomfortable around us. We'll make her understand she's wanted around here and she'll come to love it here."

"You can't force that onto someone."

Shisui sneered. "And what would you know about relationships? I can't remember the last time you were a part of one with that attitude of yours."

Sai shoved back his brother, heading for his room, but he could still hear Shisui calling down the hallway after him.

"Don't you dare fall for her, little brother. There are some things I will tolerate with you but that isn't one of them. You understand? She's not for you."

Sai slammed the door, cutting off anything else his big brother might have to say.

* * *

Sasuke was the first one to pass out. He didn't even get halfway through his hand before passing out. Sasori picked up Sasuke's cards and distributed what was left before continuing on with the round. Izuna as the second to bow out, but he did it gracefully, claiming the headaches that always came with too much drinking were making his sick. Sasori was the first to run out of cards, followed by Pein.

Sasori held his booze worse than Pein, and after his penalty shot was barely coherent enough to listen to the otherse demand he pick a truth or dare to complete. Being normally level headed he would have likely chosen truth, but Sasori was red in the face and panting in an effort to stay awake.

"I dare," he breathed, still able to speak okay. His vision was what seemed to go first.

Madara produced a non permeant black marker. "Make Sasuke beautiful with your lovely art skills, please."

Sakura made a pitying sound behind her hand and had to look away as the red head made his way over to Sasuke and started drawing whiskers.

"God, he is going to hate that when he wakes up," Itachi sighed. "He looks like Naruto now."

"Naruto?" the name sounded familiar, but Sakura couldn't place a face to it.

Itachi nodded at his brother. "Sasuke and he are close friends, but they argue a lot and claim to hate each other. It's just posturing with those two."

"I can understand that," Sakura said, thinking back to her friendships with Karin and Ino when she was younger. Sometimes it was hard for her to be honest with people she cared about.

"Pein," itachi nodded towards the shot in front of the adopted Uchiha. "It is now your turn. Truth or dare?"

"I'm no so far gone to be that stupid. I choose truth, of course."

"How many women have you dated?" Madara was quick to ask, leaning over the table with a wicked glint to his eyes.

Pein scowled, hating how the question would make him loose a little face in front of Sakura.

At least he was Shisui. That kid went through girls faster than anyone could keep up with. Shisui wasn't a serious dater, and never could keep it together with someone long enough to remember their name. Pein was a bit more reserved than that.

"Including middle school, three."

Madara frowned. "Wait, I thought there were more. What about one night stands?"

"Idiot, I'm not one of your friends. I don't do that sort of thing."

Madara made a face. "Well, neither have I, so don't make that face at me."

"You're the one that brought it up. Get your head out of the gutter."

"We may all be in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."

Sakura paused, her hand freezing over the cards between her fingers. That was an Oscar Wild quote, she was sure of it, but she was surprised to hear it coming out of Madara's mouth. She might have expected it from Pein, but Madara was the last brother she suspected of being so classically educated. (He was the one volunteering to take his shirt off for a penalty when Itachi caught him peeking.)

Blinking hard, Sakura reached up and touched the side of her face with the back of her hand. The alcohol must have been getting to her. It had been a while since she last went out drinking. It had been a rush to go for booze when she was younger and it break the law for it, but the appeal lessened after entering college and turning into an adult.

"Sakura, it's your turn," Pein said, scooting closer to her. Now that he was out of the game, he didn't have to keep his distance in order to not be suspected of cheating. Sakura didn't seem to notice or mind the sudden proximity she now shared with the older male.

"Hmm," Sakura hummed, blinking once again and turning to face Itachi. "Do you have a seven?"

He shook his head, not even bothering to look at the few cards he had left. "Sorry."

Sakura nodded, expecting such a response before drawing a random card and then going for her Sake cup. She was so close to the end, but for some reason the alcohol felt heave in its cup. She took a breath and then tipped back, tasting all the fire at once. It burned all the way down and crashed against the sides of her stomach, making her sway. She felt like she was carrying the pacific in her chest.

"You okay?" Pein asked. He reached out to touch the side of her face, which had turned a dark shade of pink.

Sakura made a oddly compliant sound before leaning down to rest her head on his shoulder. Pein's ears went red and his cheeks followed suit, blazing hot. His breathing picked up and he found it hard to swallow.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think it would be wise for me to push myself any further." Sakura turned down her cards and set them atop the table. There were four left. "You two will have to finish the game without me."

"W-wh-wait, what about your penalty?" Madara asked, his own cheeks red for some odd reason. Maybe the alcohol was getting to him too.

"Shut up, she doesn't have to," Pein nearly snapped.

Madara glared at the younger brother. "I wasn't going to force her, I just wanted to see if she still wanted to do it. It-it could be fun."

"Oh?" Pein asked with a dismissive tone while Sakura lifted her head a bit to peek out from between her bangs. "How so?"

Madara fumed silently to himself. For some reason Sakura felt bad for him. He looked like a child getting picked on.

She was speaking before she knew it. "I try to be more open with people about things, but it's not my best quality. Still, if you ask me something, I'll try to answer it."

Madara smiled kindly at her this time, and there was no stutter or uneasiness in his face as the smile came naturally. He looked really handsome for a guy-something Sakura never admitted. Her toes went numb and her heart felt weird in her chest as she lowered her face back to Pein's shoulder. She didn't want him looking at her with his face all perfect like that.

"Thank you Sakura, but I'll ask some other time. You look tired? Do you want to head off to bed?"

Going to bed would have been the smart, safe thing to do, but the booze in her bloodstream made her tired and she felt terribly unmotivated to move that much. Her head wasn't working right.

Sakura shook her head. "No, I'll stay until someone wins."

Her memory started to flicker off. She was watching Itachi and Madara get rid of their last few cards and then in the next second all the cards but three were gone. Sakura blinked and Madara was standing on top of the table yelling and Itachi was smirking like a weasel. Pein must have pushed her off since she was propped up against the couch. She reached up and felt a throw under her finger tips. She pulled on it and draped it over her body, laying down on the floor under the table. She could see Sasuke passed out across from her on the floor. He looked so young and child like in sleep. It was pleasant.

Her brain did that thing again when it skipped out and then she heard them panicking when they couldn't find her. Itachi was the one that bothered to look under the table and came back with a pillow to wedge under her head. He hissed at the others to keep it down and the lights started going off.

* * *

When Sakura awoke in the morning the table she had crawled under was gone, but she hadn't moved. The couch and all the furniture in the room was where it had been last night. Someone must have pulled the low table away after she passed out.

The sun had not yet risen making the room dark, but she could see darker Uchiha hair right under her chin, and feel the heavy arm draped over her side, as well as the leg threaded through her own. Sasuke had wiggled his way down in the middle of the night to wrap around her like a teddy bear. His face was tucked into the hallow of her clavicle, his lips hovering just a breath away from exposed skin.

'_Too close_' her foggy mind processed. Normally should would have been freaking out, but normal meant sober, and Sakura wasn't quite there yet.

'_It's not too bad a feeling, actually. Maybe being hugged by guys isn't such a bad thing after all.'_

She winced as a dagger of pain ran through her brain from the hangover.

'_Never mind, I'm still not thinking right_.'

She reached up to push Sasuke away, but felt her arm was pinned down from someone else other than Sasuke. It/he felt her move and snaked his hand around her abdomen to pull her up and back into his chest. He was hard and warm, the heat from his body evident through his thin night shirt. A face nuzzled into the back of her head and she felt the curve of his nose brush her neck up and down. He inhaled deeply, and the rise and fall of his chest brushed up against her back.

She craned her neck to see over her shoulder but all her eyes could catch was a shock of black hair, slightly rumpled but not quite unkept. Still too tired to care enough, Sakura turned away and closed her eyes again.

When she woke hours earlier she was on her own.

'_Was that a dream?_'

And then the hangover hit.

"Shit."

.

* * *

AN:/ This is really rough because I haven't had time to go back and re read it before posting, but I wanted to get this posted as soon as possible before the weekend hit. I have finals coming up so this will have to satisfy you guys for another few weeks. Originally the chapter was supposed to end in the middle of their game, but things turned out differently. So, what do you think, you like? Not all the brothers are happy to have her there and some are more eager than others.

The next chapter has her waking up and some more realistic bonding takes place if all goes according to what I have planned out in my mind. Honest to goodness I don't want to have to wait that much longer before writing the next chapter because so much of it is set in my head, clear as day. Life is busy, it's always busy. Grrrrrr. I bet there is some homework I should be doing now, but this is more fun and it helps me relax and de-stress. I think that is an important aspect of stories in general. They remove us from reality and when we are removed from reality it should be in favor of something better, something that helps us get up with a little less baggage and face the world again and again. Stories save my sanity, which is why I'm not apologizing for the insta-love and fluff. That's the point of this story-to be lighthearted.

Hope you enjoyed it! Please remember to _**review**_!

Vesper chan

.


	4. Chapter 4

Hangover Coffee is a Godsend

* * *

"But I want to see Sakura!"

"I don't care if you don't have work today, I'm really going to kill you this time," Kakashi sung in a sweet voice as he towered over the eldest Uchiha. Madara wilted a little bit, even though they were practically the same age and height .

"Nothing bad happened!"

Kakashi hit the Uchiha upside his head. "Baka, that is not how you welcome a young single girl into a home of pure, unfiltered testosterone. You could have really scared her! If I didn't think it would scar her mentally I would force you to go up and apologize, but I'm sure your face is the last one she wants to see."

"You seemed fine with it when you took the others to bed. Why are you so mean now?" Madara whined, holding the part of his head where he had been hit.

"You went too far. A little is fine, moderation tempers the ills, but you were reckless and pressured her into drinking more than she wanted to and playing games she wasn't comfortable with. And don't worry, I'll have a word with Pein and Itachi when I'm done with you. I can't believe none of you bothered to speak up and defend her interests."

"It's not like Sakura chan hated it. She seemed willing-ow, stop that. Ow-okay, okay, I get it so cut it-ow! Ow! Gahhh!"

"You're going to work!"

* * *

Sakura tried counting the lights hanging above the kitchen table but gave up when they refused to stop moving. Grunting, she pinched the skin between her eyes and lowered her head. She was fine with drinking in the sense that she didn't become too drastically impaired as a result or toss her cookies as a result. But as a result, her hangovers lasted longer and were much worse on average.

She felt out of place in her body. When she picked up things, her hands didn't feel like they belonged to her. The coffee had no taste in her mouth, and the things she heard were all far away, even if it was a brother screaming in her ear. Only the reverberating pain within her skull remained.

Masking her features into a false grin, Sakura turned to look at Tobi who was pouring out his toy dinosaurs across the table. He was chatting hurriedly and waving different dinosaurs around before letting one slip from his fingers into the cereal bowel. He paused, having not intended for that to happen, before he began to laugh. Sakura joined in with a snicker, still feeling detached. Tobi was adorable, but she felt like she was still trapped in a dream.

She didn't notice Tobi climb down from his seat to stand next to her side. He touched her knee and she twitched, turning to face him. His eyes were wide and glassy with childhood.

"Is Sakura onee chan still tired from naps?" He reached up to touch her cheek and she leaned into his touch. He giggled a little bit when her hair slipped free to tickle his knuckles.

She couldn't help but smile for real this time. "Ah, sometimes it feels like I'll never wake up. I'm still tired and my head hurts a little bit."

Tobi grunted, tossing his toy dinosaur onto the table and reaching for Sakura with both hands. He started to climb onto her chair and when Sakura realized what he was doing she pulled him up onto her lap. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead, causing her to blink in surprise. He then tapped her face where he had kissed her chanting, 'pain pain, go away.' When he was done he grinned wide. "Sakura onee chan is better now!" he cried.

It wasn't true thought. She still had a terrible headache and the lights still pulsated behind her eyes and nothing was in focus, but that didn't matter. It was a new feeling to be cared for in such a way. Never having younger siblings, it was Sakura's first time being taken care of by a child…and it was nice.

Unable to resist, Sakura squeezed Tobi into a hug till he giggled. "Thanks," she whispered in his ear.

She let him go a moment later and he took a few of his toy dinosaurs to show off to Kakashi, shouting something about how he had fixed his onee chan.

Itachi appeared in the doorway a moment later with his own cup of coffee in hand. He crossed the room to take the open seat next to Sakura and dropped a packaged pill next to her coffee mug. She managed to raise a single brow in his direction. "First booze and now drugs, I'm going downhill fast, don't you think?"

Ignoring her joke Itachi bowed his head. "I must apologize. I let my rivalry with Madara obscure my judgement and acted inappropriately. We should have been welcoming you, instead we did the opposite."

"You must really think I'm delicate," Sakura scoffed, not bothering to pretend to be polite as she reached for the pill. Her vision wavered a moment and she hesitated before the room came back into semi focus. "I'm legally an adult who can make her own decisions. I could have left if I felt pressured."

"I disagree, you are too polite."

Sakura froze and forced herself to look at Itachi's face. He was a bit out of focus and blurred thanks to her hangover induced migraine, but she saw enough to see that Itachi was serious. Even without looking, his tone told her he wasn't joking.

"You don't think I'm naturally a pleasant person?"

"I don't think that you would have been here with us last night if the choice was truly up to you. You were making the best out of a bad situation."

Sakura unwrapped the pain killer and popped it back over her tongue before washing it down with strong coffee. She ran her tongue over her teeth, trying to get the feeling off afterwards. If she didn't feel so crummy all around she might have bantered with the Uchiha and tried to sell her lie with greater zeal. But she wasn't feeling better, and she was past the point of caring. Somehow, she doubted she would be able to lie convincingly enough to Itachi or any of his brothers for very long. Itachi especially seemed particularly adapt at detecting falsehoods in others. Maybe that had something to do with his police work.

"You said you had a rivalry with your brother," Sakura countered. She almost smiled when she saw his jaw twitch. "Is that something you want to talk to me about?"

"Not particularly."

Sakura took another long pull of her coffee, feeling a bit more awake than she had when she started drinking it. "Then I think you can understand how I feel about the current direction of this conversation. We all have things we would rather not talk about, right?"

A silence grew between them. Sakura thought he would get up and leave, but Itachi choose to stay where he was seated. Sakura turned to stare into the nearly empty interior of her mug and watch as the last few drops of coffee swirled around at the base of her cup as she turned it backwards and forwards. She could hear Itachi taking a sip of his own from alongside her. Silence grew, yet neither spoke to break it.

Finally, "Is there a movie you wanted to see, Sakura san?"

She didn't turn to face him, but blinked in surprise. "…Not one that I can think of off the top of my head. Why?"

"I won the game last night."

Game? Sakura squeezed her eyes shut and tried to think back. They had been saying stuff about a stupid wagger, a movie…no, wasn't there something about truth and dare and penalty shots too? Her memory began to hum like an old computer being booted up for the first time in a while.

_'What do you think the winner should get? Would a brother sister date to the movies be unreasonable?'_

Oh, so that was what Itachi was talking about. She didn't know they kept playing after she opted out. Though, that would make sense if what Itachi said about a rivalry with Madara proved true. She couldn't remember Itachi winning though. It must have happened after she fell asleep.

"Is there a movie you were thinking of seeing?" she asked, pushing her mug away. It was empty and useless to her now.

"No, but I'm sure I could find something that looked appealing if I looked. When are you free?"

He was serious about the movie thing. When she turned to face him she found him already looking at her. "Free?"

"When would it be most convenient to take you to the movies. That was one of the stipulations you laid out before agreeing, that it fit into your schedule."

Sakura rubbed her eyes again. "Ah, I would have to double check, but any time not today or tomorrow should be good. I'm still unpacking and was going to go shopping tomorrow for stuff I still need."

"Are you familiar with the area yet?"

"No, but Kakashi and Pein said they would show me around."

Itachi didn't reply right away. He nodded and then reached to take another pull of his coffee, only to find his mug empty. Huffing, he set the ceramic down on the table next to her own. When he spoke up again his voice sounded a bit distracted. "Do you have a preferred movie type, or any dislikes I should take into consideration in picking the movie?"

"I like super hero movies, but none of those are out right now. I'm pretty much fine with anything as long as it's not a slow sort of movie, like the kind that are based on _inspiring_ true events." Sakura paused to make a face to herself. "And I'm really bad at chick flicks. I like action type movies and anything with explosions. Those are good."

Itachi hummed a bit, sounding more pleased than before when he awkwardly changed the subject back to movies. This wasn't lost on Sakura.

"Sasuke has similar tastes. When he was little, I would take him to the movies. He was the only one I would spoil and in turn I was the only one he would let spoil him."

It felt off topic, and a bit like he was forcing himself to talk about it. She momentarily wondered if it was hard for him to talk about Sasuke for some reason and if it was worth it to reply. Her eyes drifted over to the few dinosaur left behind from Tobi's earlier adventure with the cereal bowel.

"I thought Kakashi was the one that spoiled the kids. He said Sasuke didn't like being spoiled."

"That's mostly true, but it's been a while since I last visited the cinema with anyone. Sasuke is past the point of spoiling, even from me." Itachi's eyes flickered from her face to the doorway and then back to the empty mugs on the table. Grabbing one in each hand, he stood and bowed. "Excuse me, it's time I set off for work. I'm sorry, again for the trouble we caused you. Regardless, I hope you come to enjoy your place here. We would like it to be home for you."

He was gone as quickly as he initially appeared. Sakura blinked once, slowly, and found herself alone again, even though she could hear noises faint in the background and distant. Kakashi was getting Tobi ready for school, and the other boys who had high school classes still were all loudly getting themselves out the door.

There were a couple more weeks left before they would be on summer break, same as her and Sasuke. One of them mentioned looking forward to family vacation, but Sakura couldn't bother to recall who said what after that. If it was important, it would come up again, she was sure.

Deciding that the kitchen was too dangerous a place to stay in if she wanted to avoid her 'brothers,' Sakura stood and made for the stairs. She had a feeling the motion from the elevator would be more than she could tolerate with her head still spinning as much as it was.

It took a while, but she eventually reached her room. Stepping inside, she closed the door behind her and peeled the old dress from her body like a bad memory. Tossing it into the corner, she didn't bother to dress again as she burrowed under her covers and napped for the better part of the morning.

She kept her ipod close and let it shuffle through her music library, even though she didn't wear her earbuds. Keeping the buds close to her on the pillow beside her face, she could hear the distant crones of Stevie Nicks singing about a boy on the edge of seventeen.

It was enough to keep her calm and centered in a cocoon of peace.

When she let it, her mind wandered to places she didn't want it to go. She felt anger and fear and panic and stress and despair all in waves that ebbed and flowed throughout her body, one right after the other. She really hated it. She tried not to, but at the core of her self she knew that her dislike was a truth she couldn't will out of existence.

Sakura hated when anything was forced upon her. Anyone that knew her well enough knew that she could be ridiculously stubborn when someone tried to force her to do something, even if that something was for her benefit or not all that bad. To her friends she seemed defiant based on principal alone. Her father had forced her into this corner, and there was no way out of it for her.

Her eyes drifted open when she heard the noise downstairs.

And then there was her fear. She couldn't blame her father when he didn't know; how was he supposed to know what scarred her when he didn't even talk to her the few short days he happened to be home with her? He couldn't have possibly predicted her fear of the opposite sex to grow as far and deep as it had. Thanks to friends like Ino that fear was beginning to fade to the point where she could actually start appreciating men again and cultivate a budding attraction from afar with one or two guys that may or may not have known she existed.

But still, this was too much, too fast, and too soon.

Sakura buried herself further under her blankets. She wanted to go home. She wanted this to be over. She didn't want to have dinner with them again and have to pretend she was okay when she really wasn't.

"How the hell did I get through last night?" she wondered aloud, chalking it up to the alcohol.

Sakura lightly slapped her cheeks, grunting in frustration. "Damn it, Sakura, get a hold of yourself. You're not afraid of anything. You're being paranoid again. What would Ino say if she saw you now?"

As if sensing her distress, Sakura's phone bussed from under on of the pillows. Sakura reached for it, accepting the call once she saw it was Ino.

"Ino Pig!"

There was a muffled sound on the other end of the line, and it sounded suspiciously like a laugh. "Forehead, you sound terrible. How did your first night go, I sent you a text but you never texted back."

Sakura groaned. "Sorry, I'm tired. I was up late last night playing Monopoly."

"That's super boring, give me a better excuse."

"…There was drinking involved."

Ino laughed out loud this time. "That sounds much better. I'm so proud of you Sakura. I take it the family likes you then?"

She felt a guilty for being scared of them after hearing Ino's words. Yeah, they did like her and they made an effort to see that she was comfortable. They tried. How much worse could it have been if they were all like Sai? That would be horrible.

"I want to punch something," Sakura said without thinking, not knowing that was what she felt like doing until the words were past her lips. She heard Ino's sharp intake of breath and quickly moved to repair the damage. "But not really! I mean, I-I, Damn it, I don't know. Ino, what am I doing here?"

"You're struggling, obviously. Was yesterday really that bad?"

"No, it was fine, they're all nice, or mostly all nice and they want me to be comfortable here, and gave me my own room, but I can't shake the feeling that I shouldn't be around so many men at once. I'm stupid, I know."

"It's only the first day. Do you want me to skype you? We can pretend we're hanging out. I wanted to talk to you about our videos too."

Deciding that was the best way to keep her mind off of things, Sakura agreed. Hanging up, she rose from her futon, dressed, and booted up her computer. Her room was still a mess when Ino came on and before the pair talked about her channel, Ino made Sakura organize a bit more. By the time lunch came around, sakura was too tired to move anything anymore, even if Ino whined at her to adjust the mirror a little to the left and take the clay figurines off the lowest shelf on her bookcase.

"You said you wanted to talk about your videos," Sakura countered, holding a palm to her forehead, trying to force down the headache that was stirring behind her eyes. "When are you going to start editing them?"

"They're almost all edited."

Sakura blinked, turning around and pulling up a chair to sit in front of her computer. "_Already_? Who helped you?"

"Shika and I did them together, though he did most of it." Sakura could picture the evil smile spread across Ino's face. "He just needed the right motivation. Anyway, I was thinking I would release the first video tomorrow, so it's a big deal for me and I want you to spam it everywhere you go."

"I don't want to. Have Karin do the spam work."

"I am, we're all spamming it, I want to get a lot of feedback right away so we can start work on the rest of the summer series. I'm aiming for at least one a week."

Sakura let her head fall to the surface of the table and grumbled something under her breath. "Ino this is embarrassing for me. I told you I would help as long as it's tied to your school work, but I'm starting to get uncomfortable. What if people I know see these videos?" She looked up suddenly with a start. "What if _they_ see the videos?"

Ino had the decency to wince. "Ouch, well, they'll know you a little bit better?"

Sakura had been blunt and honest in Ino's videos, giving her opinions about men, culture, and life experiences in general. It felt good at first to be so honest, but there were going to be people who didn't understand where she was coming from and take things out of context and judge her for her opinions-that had already happened online-and she was fine with that as long as it didn't hinder her from being able to live her life and find work or build friendships.

"Hey, don't look like that, we all did the same thing. Me, you, Karin, Tenten, Temari…no one was worse or better for it, right? Besides, you're probably the one with the least to worry about. You're the prude among us, if you haven't forgotten yet."

"I only look like that when I'm next to Karin and you….or mostly just Karin. That woman is brave. I like her."

Ino nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I'm glad you introduced us. She adds variety to the show."

"Will you send me a link to view it before you post it?" Sakura asked.

Ino shook her head. "I'm gonna post it and then you have to watch it so I get more views."

"Ino!" Sakura voice was hard. "That's only one view."

"And with that one view I will rule the world of the interwebs, be the queen of digital media, the conquer of youtubes. Tremble before my awesome power, bitch."

Sakura snorted, feeling lighter and less stressed. Ino was a riot that made her want to pull her hair out at times, but there was no one alive Sakura was closer to. They were different, they had diverted and gone their own ways in life, but even in their new roles as adults in society, their friendship endured while others fell away.

Sakura felt her lips go taunt in a smile and realized she was happy. Ino did that to her. "Don't get too conceited. If you jinx it you won't even hit a thousand."

"I like to set my sights high. Aim for the stars and all that crap."

"I should aim for a sandwich or something." Sakura absently rubbed her stomach. "I haven't eaten yet and it's late, I should get something."

Ino rolled her eyes. "Fine, leave me on my own and forget about me, I know how that goes. Whatever, I have to edit stuff anyway and try to get the channel active again. You just wait, forehead, this is going to be big, count on it."

"Love you too, Pig." Sakura reached up to disconnect the chat, waving absently with her free hand. Ino was already standing up and moving away from the desktop in her room.

Stretching her arms above her head until the bones in her spine popped reassuringly, Sakura goose stepped her way over to the door and then stopped. Snapping her fingers, she turned around and reached for her headphones. They weren't connected to anything, but they felt good on her shoulders and made her feel better. And heck, they made her look a little bad ass nestled next to the collar of her distressed denim vest. Still barefoot, she left her room for the stairwell and descended to the kitchen in search of food.

The apartment was quiet, though she heard Sasuke hanging out in the front room with the tv on low while he flipped through a book on the coffee table. If he heard her he didn't look up. Sakura passed by and made her way into the kitchen, stopping to peer inside the fridge for some food.

For having such a large family she was expecting the refrigerator to be a bit more full than what it was. Two out of the five shelves had containers, and a third shelf had a half filled gallon of milk. She picked up a container and popped the lid, only to gag and snap the tuberwaer lid back down into place, cutting off the foul oder that germinated inside the plastic. Most everything in the fridge was old or the remnants of take out.

'Shouldn't one of them know how to cook?' she thought to herself with growing dread.

Skipping the fridge, she found some energy bars in the pantry and satisfied herself with one of those and an apple from the pitiful fruit bowl on the counter. The bananas hanging out were nearly all black.

'They're going to get food poison one day and kill themselves.'

She bit at the core of her apple with her teeth and scraped sweet juices up with her tongue as they dribbled off her lips. She had never had any trouble with food. She didn't eat very much, but being home alone all the time, she had learned how to take care of herself. When she stayed with Ino in the past for extended periods of time, a part of the deal had always been her making food for her family instead of paying rent. She wasn't a great cook, but she knew she could if she had to, and sometimes it turned out to be fun.

When she looked down she found the apple finished in her hands, a skinny and a pitiful reminder of what once was. Her guilt reared up and she winced at the feeling. Inwardly cursing, she threw out the apple and stomped back up to her room, remembering to be quiet only when she passed Sasuke by.

In her room she pulled up a map on her computer and searched for local grocery stores. Finding one that was decent walking distance, she checked the balance of her bank account and set off once again with her purse strapped to her side. This time, as she passed Sasuke by she couldn't help but pause. For the second time in the past hour, her guilt kicked her harshly.

'You have got to be kidding me,' she grumbled inwardly.

Breathing deeply, she approached the room with Sasuke inside and knocked on the doorframe to get his attention. He looked up right away and the harsh edges to his gaze softened in surprise.

"Sakura!" He stood and noticed the purse at her side. "Are you going out?"

"I was actually going to ask for your help. I'm planning on buying groceries for dinner tonight and was wondering if you could help carrying them back. If you're busy that's fine, I didn't plan on buying much anyway so…" She looked away and then shrugged absently. Her fingers itched and wanted to reach up and hold the side of her headphones, but she kept them at her sides.

"No, I'm free!" Sasuke was quick to say. "Are you leaving now?" Before she could say anything he was up and running shouting a hurried 'wait a sec' over his shoulder as he disappeared into the stairwell, only to reemerge a minute later better dressed with boots instead of bare feet.

He stopped in front of her and chuckled to himself, reaching up to run a hand through his hair. "Sorry, needed shoes. I'm ready now."

Sakura nodded, wondering if it was her or was Sasuke's hair shinier. Did he put gel in it? Either way, it looked fantastic and she was jealous for all that natural beauty.

"Do you know if any of your brothers have food allergies or intolerances?" she asked, leading him to the door and pausing when he rushed forward to open it for her. It was gestures like that, that made the guilt so powerful inside her. They were trying to welcome her.

Hesitantly, she followed him out into the light.

"We try to keep Tobi away from sweet things, and Sai doesn't like sweet things, but no one is going to get sick or anything. I don't think anyone has any allergies.'' Sasuke reached up to scratch the back of his head, ruffling the artfully arranged spikes that were probably natural considering how little time he had to make himself up.

Sakura paused to take in the younger male. He was a bit taller than her, but not more than a head or so. He dressed himself well with fitted gray jeans, a white shirt and dark blazer accented with a fraying checkered scarf. All he needed were the glasses and a coffee and his hipster motif would be compete. He also smelled good, which was a terribly effective turn on for someone as sensitive as Sakura. Others might not have cared or thought him too prissy for how clean he kept his nails and how smooth he kept his skin, but Sakura cared, and that made her uncomfortable because Sasuke was her brother and he was younger than her.

Trying to fall back into the conversation Sakura tore her eyes away and shook her head. "Does anyone else in your family cook, or is that not a thing?"

Sasuke's snort was enough of a answer, but he spoke anyway. "Kakashi and Izuna can cook, but they have become busy and it's rare that they want to spend that extra time in the kitchen for us. We haven't had a home cooked meal in…ages."

"Do you think they would mind?"

Sasuke's face broke into an easy smile. "Are you kidding, they would worship the ground you walk on, except for Sai. He's an ass and he's an ass to everyone, don't think it has anything to do with you."

"That's fine. I thought it would be weird if everyone was as inviting as Shisui and Tobi. Honestly, I didn't expect to be greeted so warmly."

"Why not?"

The pair stopped at a crosswalk and waited for the light to turn. Sakura shrugged. "Is that normal? I wouldn't know either way, but…" The light switched and Sakur was the first to step forward without checking for traffic.

Sasuke scrambbled to keep up, sparing a glance wither way for the both of them.

The pair strolled into the grocery store together, stopping by the baskets while Sakura rummaged around for her list through the pockets of her distressed, denim vest. Sasuke picked up a basket for the both of them and gestured to it, letting her know she didn't have to pick her own up. She smiled, appreciating the gesture enough to let her lips show it.

There were other things Sasuke wanted her lips to show him, but considering how he was still having trouble holding a decent conversation with her without blushing out of control, it was probably a good thing her lips weren't showing him anything more. So far he was doing good, all things considered.

"I'm curious," Sasuke started, watching as she browsed through the labels on the tomato sauce jars. "What did you expect when you heard the news from your dad?"

"Does it matter?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I'm curious."

Sakura peeked up, selecting a Prego jar and setting it into the bottom of his cart. Her eyes found his and held them until he didn't think he was breathing anymore. Before he could collasp into a pile on the floor at her feet, Sakura blinked and turned away. "Nope. If you want to hear that you have to share first. Tell me what did you expect when you heard you would be getting a sister."

Sasuke couldn't remember when he had first been told, because in all honesty, he didn't care what his mother did. He had been the paragon of indifference until it was her on his doorstep. "I didn't think about it. I've always had a noise home, and many other siblings. What's one more? I didn't think I would actually…ever hang out with you. But I'm glad you asked me to come with you toady. This is nice."

"It's a chore," she laughed. "Ino and I used to fight over who had to go out all the time."

Sasuke blinked, trying to remember if she had mentioned the Ino girl before. "Is she your friend?"

"Best friend, you could say." Sakura then told him a short story about how their friendship came about in her childhood, how she was often teased, and how Ino had been her savior. And before he knew what he was doing, Sasuke was relating with his own story of a friendship he formed with an equally obnoxious blond during childhood. When Sakura noticed the similarities the corners of her eyes crinkled in a smile that didn't need her lips to curve.

"Kids can be so mean. That's the stupidest thing to tease a person about," Sakura huffed, picking out a box of dry lasagna strips. "Like a child wants to loose their parent…kids."

Sasuke chuckled. "Did you ever go through that when your dad became a single parent?"

Sakura paused for a fraction of a second before easing back into the soft pace of a casual customer, but Sasuke noticed it.

"I'm sorry if I asked something personal. That was too rude of me, I shouldn't have brought it up!" he was quick to say, blushing harder.

Sakura waved a hand in front of her face. "Don't apologize. You started it, talking about your dad. No, it's fine. When my mom died none of the kids bothered me about it. It was all very hush hush for some reason. I guess that is why what you said about the brats teasing you and Naruto sounded so ludicrous. Ah, I just need the cheese and bread now."

Sasuke wanted to ask how her mom died, but something stopped him. He remembered the way she paused and the lines of her shoulders went sharp. It made her uncomfortable, even though she lied and said it was fine. He didn't want her to have to lie to him, even if it was to be polite.

Sakura tossed a carton of cheese into the basket and then she pointed to where the sold a dozen other different types of cheese. "Pick another type you think the other might want, the variety will be better in the dish. I just need to pick out the bread."

She didn't wait for him to answer before crossing the isle to where the bakery was located. She stopped at the bread display and began looking through a few options. Sasuke already knew what cheese Itachi would like, and didn't care about anyone else, so he took his time catching up to her, content to watch her full figure from afar.

The way she held her body when she was indecisive was adorable. She shifted the weight of one leg to the other, popping out her hip and adding a subtle attitude to the way she stood. It was hard to pinpoint, if not impossible, but there was something about how Sakura carried herself that set her apart in a crowd. It was the carriage of a leader, of a monarch, of a powerhouse and it was so dam attractive.

He bit his cheek and sucked air through his teeth. He felt light when he was around her and he didn't know why he didn't hate the feeling, because theses were feelings Sasuke hated seeing in others. Sasuke was _not_ soft.

A pair of males was picking out doughnuts and the shorter one paused in his task of unfolding the cardboard box to stare at her across the floor. His companion noticed the distraction and turned to see for himself. Something angry lit up in Sasuke's gut when he saw the look fall into the stranger's eyes. She was too enchanting for her own good. Neither boy made a move towards her, and likely wouldn't on account of how intimidating she seemed, but Sasuke didn't care. He was swift and purposeful in crossing the room to stand beside her and pick the first stick of bread out of her hand.

"We can get them both, there's a lot of us," he said, bending down to whisper in her ear, even though he didn't need to. He glanced up through his lashes at the two boys and they flinched.

_Fools_

Sakura was walking away, the other bread still in her hand and Sasuke moved to keep up. She had a stiff way of walking that threw Sasuke off. When he tried to catch up she walked just that bit faster so he was always behind her should, just a bit. He huffed, taking purposeful strides longer than her own, but by then they were already at the self check out. He reached for his wallet but she waved him off hurriedly, picking out her things and scanning them with practiced skill. The sharpness was back in her shoulders.

"Sakura…" he started.

She forced a smile and it hurt to recognize it as such. "Can you grab the other bags? Thanks."

She had two in her hands and there were another two left on the baggage wheel. He did as she asked and was turning around to find her hallway to the door. Her steps were back to being powerful, but they were something else now.

"H-Hey wait up." She paused but didn't look back as he untangled the bags from the wheel and left to follow her. "It's like you're trying to run away from me."

She swallowed audibly but then shook her head, hair slapping her cheeks. He matched her pace and walked alongside her, not behind her.

"I'm sorry, that wasn't my intention. I seem to have done it without noticing. It's been a while since I was out with a guy."

Sasuke felt unbalanced as he walked alongside her. She had ben unsettled by something, he could tell that much. The pair had been fine on their own going through the store, but after he took the bread from her…oh. His face went a little red as he understood her reaction. Yes, he had been too forward. She probably thought he was a floozy playboy or something, now. That's exactly not what Sasuke wanted her to think of him.

He was quick to formulate a reply as the approached the intersection from before. "N-no, me too. I haven't ever been shopping for groceries with a girl. I'm sorry if I did something too forward or upsetting. I want to be better at…being around people. You can tell me if I do something stupid."

Sakura laughed. "No, it's all good." Her shoulders dropped and the lightness crept back into her voice. Whatever damage he had done had been undone.

The pair crossed when the light went green and walked the rest of the way in comfortable conversation that would dip into silence from time to time, but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence. They were approaching the street where their apartment complex stood when something dawned on Sasuke.

"Sakura, you said it had been a while since you were last out with a guy. Who did you go with?"

Sakura made a face. "My friend's cousin lives with them and he was being an ass, again, so Hinata made him go shopping with me to cool down. She can boss him around, but apparently I'm the only one that can manage his bullshit and make him shut up."

Sasuke felt a little better by the bitterness that seeped into her tone. "Sounds like fun."

"Oh yeah, no, not fun at all. He's gotten better, but he still has a stick somewhere. Hopefully after a college he'll mature a little. The family was super rich, or they still are…but yeah, he didn't go to high school he was tutored at home and so he's a cloistered little princess. Only reason I know Hinata is because we took ballet together and she had no other friends."

Sasuke paused outside the house, stuck on the sidewalk. "Hinata? What's her last name?"

Sakura didn't look back as she managed to open the front door with her hands still full. "Hinata Hyuga. Her cousin's name is Neji Hyuga."

She didn't notice how Sasuke was stuck to the sidewalk outside, completely incapable of moving.

.

Half an hour later Sakura had finished unloading her groceries and pulling out everything she needed to make her lasagna dinner. With her hair tied back and her hands washed, she set a pot of water to boil on the stove before adding in her lasagna strips. Another pan was devoted to a pound of ground beef she would be layering the lasagna with.

Sasuke sulked on the skirts of the kitchen, hovering, but not fully entering. His mind seemed to be somewhere else, but he hadn't left since coming back.

Someone came through the front door and Sasuke perked up, recognizing the voice.

"Yo." Kakashi waved in greeting to the younger Uchiha. "What's that sound? Is someone in the kitchen?"

Without waiting for an answer Kakashi deposited his things by the doorway and loosened his tie around his neck before walking into the kitchen. He stopped dead on the threshold next to Sasuke. Noticing the new arrival, Sakura looked up.

"Welcome home. I'm using the kitchen to make dinner tonight. It'll be another hour almost if that's okay. I'm making lasagna."

She had a long glass dish set out and was coating it with butter. Kakashi numbly nodded, a little too tongue tied to say anything. Smiling, Sakura went back to work, not minding how Kakashi stayed in the doorway next to Sasuke, just staring.

"Sasuke," he finally managed after a while.

"Hn?"

"Where did she find an apron?"

"Somewhere in the pantry, I didn't know we had one."

"Neither did I."

"Hn."

Kakashi tilted his head to the side a bit. "It's kinda cute thought. It makes me feel like a married man coming home to his wife's home cooked dinner."

"Hn."

Sasuke was too dazed and lost in his own world to call the older male a pervert in response to the earlier comment, but a minute later Kakashi's words sunk in and Sasuke froze, once again. "Wait, what did you just say?"

Kakashi was blushing a bit and holdind his cheeks. "I even got welcomed home in a cute voice. I wonder if Sakura chan would give me a kiss."

Sakura looked up startled from her sauce when she heard the scuffle outside. "Oi! No fighting near the kitchen!"

* * *

TBC

* * *

AN:/ _This is rough! I'm off to work and didn't give it the eyeball over it needs. Sorry._  
Well what do you guys think? I did good, two updates in one week. This took forever. The next chapter will be a bitch to write, mostly because the parts I want to write come later. I don't know how much of the dinner I'll write, but that is for sure coming up with the next chapter.

On a random, not related side note, my mom's friend is having a birthday party and the theme is 1950. At first I was sorta bummed to be dragged along to an adult's party, but my mom said I could dress up as a lady greaser because costumes are welcomed. I got so into it last night, downloading girl gang playlists, researching hair styles, picking out lipstick, ect. Dressing up is one of my favorite things to do. But now I kind of want to write something with greasers. Like, maybe a hot Uchiha greaser biker gang. Mmm, yes, that sounds delicious. Yum.


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